The Force Between Us
by NicoleVesper882
Summary: With Luke Skywalker gone, Rey trains and learns to become a powerful Force wielder on her own. Kylo Ren believes that Rey is his destined love because of their Force bond, and he seeks to make her his queen. Living with the Resistance Rebels, Rey nurtures a friendship with Poe, who falls for her deeply and unexpectedly.
1. Chapter 1

**The Force Between Us**

 _Chapter One_

Rey was desperate to continue her training to become a Jedi Knight. After the events in Planet Crait, her experience as a padawan felt incomplete and unfinished. Her two weeks with Master Luke Skywalker had been barely enough to teach her the Jedi ways of being one with the Force. Her martial arts skills felt raw, unpolished; and her experience with Snoke's manipulation of her compassion for Kylo Ren taught her that she needed help blocking unwelcome intrusions into her mind.

Between her shifts in the Millenium Falcon transporting General Leia and the rebels as they search for allies and bases to hide, Rey skipped sleep and meditated instead to try searching the reaches of The Force for a possible teacher. To her surprise, she got herself blocked by three Jedi Knights in hiding. The first one was a blind teenager with scarred eyes living alone in a forested planet deep in the outer reaches of the galaxy. She smiled with pleasure at encountering Rey and whispered her sadness at losing Master Luke Skywalker. Before Rey could speak, however, the teen-aged knight gently but firmly put Rey aside, as if she was a child.

The second knight, a blonde middle-aged woman with blazing green eyes, hissed at Rey with utter hostility. Rey was only able to glimpse an ocean of pure emerald blue, a little rundown castle jutting out of white rock surrounded by sighing pines, and the woman's twin children: one blonde, one with strawberry red hair, the two of them laughing and playing among the waves. Though she was barely trained in the ways of the Force, Rey sensed in these twins a raw, untamed power. Even in their state of play, she was sure that they could crush her, Kylo Ren and the Praetorian guard under their thumbs. Their mother cursed at Rey and repelled her with a breathtaking wave of the Force. "You are not welcome," her voice spat out to Rey with venom, her eyes ablaze with hate. "Skywalker apprentice. Sith lover," she accused Rey. "And my children will never learn the ways of the Force."

The third Knight was a hermit brimming with old, dormant power, living alone in a vast temple filled with gigantic statues of old Jedi Masters. Rey walked the length of this forgotten sanctuary and stopped when she saw Luke Skywalker's statue, tall and imposing, his kind, familiar eyes gazing at her from above. "This is a mausoleum of the past, young padawan," the hermit told her, hooded and small, leaning on a staff for support. Rey looked up at her old Master, missing him, and tears began to run down her cheeks. "I feel lost," a sob escaped from her. "Unmoored. I doubt I can go on without his guidance." She felt a hand slip into hers, radiating comfort and strength. Rey looked down and saw a wrinkled green face smiling up at her. "Only the foolish surmise that their education is complete," he said to her. "The wise never stop doubting what they know. Be brave, young Rey. Your purpose lies ahead of you." She felt the hermit's pain at the loss of Luke Skywalker, and likewise a peace and joy from the thought that his old padawan had attained his purpose, choosing an honorable and beautiful death.

"Padawan?" Rey gasped, before their connection was severed and Rey was back in her cot in the Millenium Falcon, gasping for breath. Her sudden return to consciousness alarmed Chewbacca, who had been sitting guard near her with a couple of porgs asleep on his shoulder. It was still midnight, Rey felt completely exhausted, and asked Chewie how many days she'd been gone. Chewie assured her that she had only been meditating for an hour. "Rest," he scolded her. "Sleep." Rey lay on her cot and closed her eyes, feeling more weary at the clear message sent to her that the remaining Jedi knights have severed themselves from the Resistance and decided to end the rest of their days in peace.

Rey was still disturbed by this revelation for days after her venture through the Force. "I can't be the only Jedi who remains here with the Resistance, fighting the cause," she whispered to herself as she spent her waking hours helping Poe, Rose and Finn establish distant bases, repair and maintain aircraft, and complete missions with them for supply and reconnaissance. She did not try to reach the Jedi in hiding again, but instead meditated to strengthen her mind and discipline her control of the Force. Try as she might, she still could not control her own personal doubts.

"I am unschooled, untrained. I was only a padawan when I faced Snoke," she whispered to herself during one of her long nights when she could not sleep. Her friends lay deep in slumber in sleeping bags and hammocks around her, but she could not cease thinking about how unprepared she would be if she would ever face Kylo Ren, or any one of the Knights of Ren, in the future. She remembered how she barely fought off only one Praetorian guard at the time when she was in the Throne Room with Ben Solo. Ben …Kylo Ren…was more powerful, skilled, in martial arts and in the ways of the Force. He had easily slaughtered three Praetorian Guards with one blow. Rey had struggled with two, then one at the end, and to this day, could not for the life of her remember how she managed to defend herself and kill them off. She remembered worriedly that she had not been strong enough to resist Snoke and to cloak her mind against his powers. Kylo Ren had masked his true intention from his own Master before he killed him. _That kind of power and skill…_ Rey inhaled deeply, acknowledging her apprehension of Ben Solo's talent. _If Luke had been alive, I would have learned how or even where to begin to learn it._

Rey covered her face with her threadbare pillow, and let out a muffled, frustrated scream. She then felt a hand on her wrist, and immediately turned to see Poe, who had been sleeping in the hammock beside her, looking down at her with his eyes half-open from sleep, his curls tousled around his face like a halo. "Rey?" he murmured. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm sorry. Please go back to sleep." On impulse, without thinking, Rey leaned her face on his hand, which felt slightly roughened from years of repair and aircraft maintenance work. She didn't release her grip as she lay her head back on her pillow. Poe, slightly befuddled, didn't pull his hand back from Rey's hold. He shrugged and went back to sleep.

For minutes afterwards, Rey expected Poe to pull back his hand, but he never did. She smiled; Poe should be feeling his arm go numb now, but he seemed to be snoring softly, deep in slumber. Rey rose up on her knees and carefully tucked Poe's arm inside his hammock. Poe shifted his weight for comfort, but he raised his head for a second to peer sleepily at Rey.

"You okay now?" Poe asked softly. "You can hold my hand as long as you like. It's -hebijedgehumlebenim, Rey". Poe was so sleepy that his voice became an unintelligible murmur, and Rey chuckled soundlessly.

"No worries." Rey patted his arm soothingly until Poe's eyes closed and his head burrowed heavily to his pillow once more. Within seconds, he was snoring again. Rey gazed down at his slumbering profile, his mouth slightly parted from complete exhaustion. She felt like a monster for waking him up with her impromptu drama. To her surprise, however, within seconds after she returned to her cot, she was finally able to fall into a deep sleep.

In the nights that followed, it became Poe's habit to reach out to Rey and lend her his hand to help her fall asleep. Both of them thought nothing of this; but Finn, Rose and the rest of the rebels exchanged smiles and light banter each morning at the heartwarming scene of the pilot and the last Jedi asleep together in their separate hammocks: Poe, on his back, his hand resting between Rey's palms, and Rey, who always slept in a fetal position, facing Poe, and no longer plagued with nightmares or insomnia.

Without a teacher or a Master, Rey harked back to the lessons Luke taught her: meditate, fill yourself with the power of the Force, breathe. At night, she honed the little martial arts she knew with her staff and did exercises to build up her physical strength. R2D2 shared stories of Luke's training with the legendary master Yoda. From R2D2's description of the Master, Rey wondered if the green hermit she met in the Jedi temple had been him. The droid assured her that Luke had been taught only by Master Obi Wan Kenobi, a human, and a green, wispy-haired alien, Master Yoda, who had taught both Luke and his father, Anakin Skywalker. Rey studied holograms R2D2 recorded of Luke's training and tried her skill to move entire space ships and other heavy artillery, first, while remaining stationary and with her eyes closed, and later, open-eyed and in motion as she incorporated her combat moves. Her friends showed their appreciation of her increasing skills and powers, and wondered if she will ever be using them again.

"Maybe against Kylo Ren again?" Finn asked, as he handed an old beat-up spanner to Rey. They were fixing a broken-down Star X Wing fighter with Rose, who was above them fixing the controls of the vehicle's dilapidated hyperdrive. Finn could hardly control the excitement in his voice at the possibility of Rey kicking Kylo Ren's ass again. He had been telling everyone he knew about how Rey had almost killed the now-Supreme Leader before Rey had even begun training with Master Luke Skywalker. "How long has it been since you last saw him?"

Rey remembered the last sensory Force connection she had with Kylo Ren, almost more than a month ago in Planet Crait. He had let her and the rebels escape. Allowed them to travel by lightspeed undetected. She never heard from him or saw him again. Even when she was searching the Force for old Jedi Masters scattered throughout the universe, she had encountered several Sith who treated her with hostility and tried to poison her mind with lies and fake promises of glory. But her skill with the Force made her see into their true purposes. In her struggles with them, she had learned how to hide her presence and to escape without leaving trails. She never faced Kylo Ren in these travails, though his Force Signature was still alive and well, a pulsing aura of red and black at the edge of her mind. He was always there, yes, but she never turned her mind's eye to his direction. She would do anything to avoid connecting a force bond with him ever again.

"Since Crait, when he faced Master Luke," she replied to Finn, without telling him _He let us escape_. _He saw us getting into the Millenium Falcon, and instead of ordering his men to shoot us down as we left the planet, he let us go._

"Do you think you will ever see him again?" Finn's question was innocent enough, but the thought of seeing Kylo Ren again quickened her heartbeat for a second.

"Yes," Rey replied. "I know I will, when the First Order attacks us again. It is only a matter of time when he finds out where we have set up a new base. Then we will face each other, fight, until one of us dies or surrenders."

Poe, listening to their conversation as he delivered a set of parts, chuckled. "Haven't you users of the Force learned already that these mano-o-mano duels are usually a diversion so that entire armies and fleets can escape undisturbed? Look at what happened in Crait. I wouldn't bet so much on this Kylo Ren's mojo if he was dumb enough to be hoodwinked by Luke Skywalker's hologram."

Rose narrowed her eyes at him and shook her head. "You surrendered all our intel after only five minutes of him probing your brain. Have you forgotten that?"

"No," Poe shot back defensively. "It was torture, he had all these scary evil powers. Frieking Master of the Knights of Ren. What could I have done?" They laughed and Rey patted his hand reassuringly.

"I've been there, too. At least you won't have to face him in battle again. His Master, Snoke, thought that I was his equal. He seemed to think that either of our deaths would mean supremacy over the Force and eventually, over the galaxy itself."

"And you believe him?" Finn asked. "You shouldn't have let that snake's words affect you, Rey. Is that why you've been training very hard in your spare time? Because you want to defeat him?"

"No, not to defeat him. To bring him back to the Light," Rey replied earnestly. They groaned, and Rey sighed in frustration. They never believed that Kylo Ren could be saved at all, from the very start. Only Chewbacca had believed in her mission to save him. Chewie, who had been Han Solo's faithful friend for so many years and had been there when Kylo Ren had just been Ben Solo, Han and Leia's beloved son, and not yet enamored with the dark ways of the Force. "Master Luke believed that I could save him. Despite everything's that happened, I think so too."

Rose, faithful and sweet Rose who, more than anyone, strove to see the good in people, finally said what was so obvious to everyone except Rey. "Even his own mother, General Organa, thought that he was lost and beyond saving. What makes you think you can succeed where she, General Han Solo and Master Skywalker failed?"

Rey looked at the doubtful faces of her friends: Rose's obvious worry, Poe's disbelief that she could ever think about saving someone as vile as Kylo Ren, Finn mirroring both of their emotions. All three of them thought that a monster like Kylo Ren was beyond redemption because of all that he had done. Even before she had entered the picture, Kylo Ren and the First Order had conquered entire civilizations, snuffed out millions of lives, all for the pursuit of power. Her friends had lost so many of their friends and loved ones fighting for the Rebellion. It was simply unthinkable to them for anyone, much more a Jedi warrior like her, to try to understand Kylo Ren on a personal level: to know his story, perceive his personal conflict, expend so much effort trying to bring him back to the Light. At the back of their minds, they were thinking that it would only end in two ways: her death, or her conversion to the Dark Side, having finally been seduced by Kylo Ren.

Rey closes her eyes for a moment, seeing the truth in their apprehensions. As if in response, the last words Kylo Ren had said to her echo in her mind, pleading with her to join him, his broken, tortured soul calling out to her to end his loneliness. _Please_ , he had said, his dark eyes never leaving hers. _You are nothing to them. But not to me._

"It's a long shot. I admit that I don't know how it will all end," Rey finally replies, mentally putting a lid on the wave of emotions that her memories of Kylo Ren always stirred up. She clears her mind and smiles down at her friends. "But I was able to see into his future when we connected through the Force in Ach-to. He struggles against the love he feels for the people of his past: his mother, his uncle, even for Chewie. He feels guilt for ending his father's life. There is a small window of hope there. I feel that I should not give up on him, even when everyone else has."

It was Finn, as always, who assured her of the support that she needed from them. Unconditional support borne from pure friendship. They loved and trusted her to do the right thing, despite the odds. "We're with you, Rey," he says to her. "Whatever you need to finish this mission from Master Luke, we have your back. Just tell us what you need."

Rey sighed in relief. She chuckled, and went back to her work of fixing the hard drives of the dilapidated Star Fighter. "For now, I need all the spare switches and tools we can get to fix this beat-up old thing. Wrench?"

It was after midnight when Rey repaired and carefully eased back the electrical motherboard of the dilapidated Star X Wing Fighter. She straightened up to ease the crick in her back, and saw that her friends were asleep a few feet away: Finn and Rose snuggled together in a thick caftan blanket; Poe sleeping with his mouth wide open, snoring slightly in his hammock with his leg dangling on the side. The entire hangar was quiet and silenced of the usual daytime sounds of technicians prepping and repairing aircraft, arriving and ascending trucks and wing fighters, General Organa's voice or that of her officers issuing instructions, the whooshes of opening and sliding doors. She took a spare woolen blanket from the pilot's chair and tucked it around Poe, who immediately pulled it around him and mumbled gibberish about "Blowing up the big guns". Rey laughed and gently pulled his dangling leg out of the side and inside the hammock.

BB8 quietly slid next to her and told her in droidspeak that she needed to rest. Rey patted his head, and told him that she needed to fire up the fixed motherboard first. BB8 hooted in alarm. "But nobody's here to help you! You can get electrocuted. You haven't calibrated the adaptors yet for the electrical wirings! Wait till tomorrow when Finn or Poe are awake," BB8 moaned in binary sounds, but Rey shushed him, and told him to stand by her side, "Quietly, now," she warned. "They have worked all day too. BB8, I can't know how to calibrate the adaptors if we don't know the voltage that the motherboard can take, alright? No need to disturb them when we can do this ourselves."

Rey checked to see if her little conversation with BB8 had woken her friends, but they were still sound asleep. She gave the go signal to BB8 and before he could stop her, lightly flipped the main switch for the vehicle.

As BB8 predicted, the motherboard became overwhelmed with a power surge from an uncalibrated adaptor. The power switch in Rey's hands cackled and she passed out from a stray electrical voltage that passed through her like a wave.

She woke up to the sensation of soft fingers gently pushing her hair from her forehead. Her own hands still tingled with the remembrance of the passing electrical current. She opened her eyes and realized that she was in a medical cot. Someone garbed in all-black was beside her, and he pulled his hand away when she shifted and looked up to see who it was. Kylo Ren, unmasked, his pale oval-shaped face framed by glossy, black waves of hair. Ben. His eyes, intense black pools filled with concern, visibly relaxed when she gazed up at him. His red lips curved slightly into a ghost of a smile.

"How did you get here?" Rey whispered, in half-amazement, half-fear. Or more importantly, WHY was he here? She remembered that she had not gotten any sleep or any dinner that night, and wondered if she was hallucinating from fatigue and hunger.

"The same way that I knew you were half-electrocuted from that faulty ship. The Force Bond," Kylo Ren replied. His eyes lit up in amusement as if he had been following her thoughts, "And no, this is not a delusion. Don't worry. The IV Fluid I found in the Medical Bay will compensate for the appalling lack of nutrients and minerals I was able to detect in your system."

Rey raised herself on her elbows to take a better look at him, and realized that not only was she divested of her regular clothes and now clothed in a hospital shift, but that the vein in her right arm was skillfully injected with IV Fluid flowing from a bag above her. Her mind refused to process the thought that it had been him who undressed her, gently slipped her naked body into the hospital shift, and precisely inserted the IV fluid into her arm. She glared at him doubtfully.

Kylo Ren gave her a little, knowing smile, his black eyes never wavering from her face. _You better believe it_ , he spoke gently into her mind.

"Weeks and weeks of not seeing you, hearing from you," Rey finally spoke, visibly making an effort to close her mind against his. "And now you're here. Out of nowhere."

"You were in need. So I had to come," he replied quietly. He took her hands in his, and began gently massaging her fingers. He did not try to speak to her mind again. He must have felt her discomfort that it felt like an unwelcome intrusion. "That electrical bolt could have killed you." Rey found it difficult to concentrate when he was speaking to her in person, his voice in low dulcet tones that brought goosebumps to her skin. "You took the entire voltage straight from the generator. I have half a mind to put that spherical droid to scrap for not stopping you from flipping that switch."

As if on cue, BB8 rolled next to Kylo Ren and chirped excitedly when he saw that Rey was awake. Kylo Ren turned and glared at him menacingly. The poor droid jumped in fear, bowed his head and rolled away from them.

Rey was suddenly aware that she was in the Medical Bay of the Resistance Base. She peered at Kylo Ren still pinching and warming her fingers one by one, as if he had all the time in the world.

She swallowed nervously and began to speak. "You're being here and BB8 knowing about it…I don't know how you think this will play out. Kylo…Ben. BB8 will have informed the General already of your presence."

Kylo covered her hands with his and looked at her. "I don't know where you are. I only see the insides of the hangar where I saw you lie, the path that the droid led me towards the Medical Bay, and this bed, this chair . But I don't know the planet where this base is hidden. The star system, which part of the galaxy. If you choose not to share this information with me, I will never know."

Rey searched his mind to see if he was lying to her, but he was open and honest, and he shared his thoughts freely. Most of them were of concern for her health, his outrage at her lack of precaution in testing the motherboard, relief that she had not been fried alive. She also culled his thoughts as he carried her when he followed BB8 to the Medical Bay: how soft she felt, how beautiful he thought she was without the murderous glare that she usually gave him, her subtle fragrance of sweet pea and iris.

Such trivial things, she thought. And I thought his mind would be better preoccupied with things of a grander scale: his responsibilities as the newly crowned Supreme Leader of the First Order, which included, among other things, the need to wipe out each and every Resistance rebel base he could find.

A slight frown shivered through Kylo Ren's features as he listened to Rey's thoughts. "There are things I leave for another day," he said grimly. "Soon, the First Order will find you and this base. We will annihilate everything on sight, and finally bring order to the Galaxy with the capture of General Organa. But for now, at this moment, there's only you. Rey. "

"Please go," she murmured to him, a warmth spreading from her neck to her cheeks. She turned away from his intense, liquid gaze. "They'll be here any moment."

Kylo looked at her one last time, as if he meant to memorize each moment of their encounter, before he placed her fingers to his lips and gave them a soft, lingering kiss. Then he rose from his chair and disappeared like smoke from her view.

Seconds later, the nightshift doctor entered her room with BB8. He examined Rey carefully, and diagnosed her with a mild neurological shock from the electrocution. He was confused at the lack of electrocution burns on her hands and lower arms, but he concluded that given her affinity with the Force, she had probably healed herself of them during her sleep. BB8 started to volunteer information about her physical condition, but Rey gave him a knowing glare, and the droid stopped. The doctor looked at both of them questioningly. Rey did not tell him that a Sith Lord, Kylo Ren, had massaged them when he visited her through the Force Bond. _So he has healing powers now too_ , Rey thought in half-admiration, half-shock. "Did that droid really carry you all the way up here from the aircraft hangar?" The doctor asked as he encoded his diagnosis and the result of his examination on a data pad. "That's a hundred yards away, and I didn't see any portable carrier by the door."

"BB8 might have alerted a passing aide about the emergency. Someone did carry me here. I'm sorry, I cannot remember who," Rey replied. The doctor looked at BB8 for confirmation. The droid looked at Rey, then at the doctor, before replying in binary sounds, "Yeah. What she said."

"Well, you'll be fine in a day or two. Just avoid taking a bath within the next 12 hours. I'll be back to examine your reflexes in a few hours or so," the doctor said. He smiled down at her admiringly. "I'm glad to see you're not in any danger, Master Rey." He patted BB8 affectionately and said to him, "Good job, old boy," before he exited the Medical Bay with a final, friendly wave to the patient.

When they were finally alone, BB8 turned to Rey and chirped nervously, "There were cameras. Someone might have seen who really carried you to the Medical Bay."

The door to the Medical Bay whooshed open, and General Leia Organa entered. Her beautiful dark eyes, so identical to Kylo Ren's, relaxed when they saw Rey sitting up and talking with BB8. Rey swallowed nervously, but she did not need to use the Force to find out that the General already knew the truth about who had saved her, and how.

The General looked at her kindly, and sat down on the stool where Kylo Ren had been massaging Rey's fingers only minutes before. She chose her words carefully before speaking. "He was here."

Rey paled, but there was no use denying it to a powerful Force-sensitive Skywalker like her. "Yes."

General Leia closed her eyes and nodded. "I felt him too. His panic. His helplessness when he realized he wasn't powerful enough to take you to the First Order's medical facilities, which are, let's face it, more superior than ours. I thought I had dreamt it all: his picking you up, leading you out of danger, following a droid in my own base so that he can give you immediate medical attention. But the security cameras show otherwise."

Rey smiled weakly. "I'm sorry, General. It was my fault, I was too hasty in testing the newly repaired X Wing we salvaged from our last mission. Because of my lack of caution-"

The general shook her head gently and put up a heavily ringed hand to cut her off. "No, I am not concerned about that, Rey. I am grateful for your help in repairing and maintaining these old crafts. You are the best mechanic the Rebellion's ever had since my brother. I am no Jedi knight or even a padawan. I don't know how the Force works, although, to my eternal sadness, I am sensitive to it, and I've passed that on to my son. But I do need to know, how this could have happened. How much information could he have retrieved from easily entering and exiting our base? Nobody, not even our most loyal allies, know about where we have hidden this time. We have not yet regained our former strength. As you know, we are reduced to salvaging decrepit fleet from the old wars to help in our missions. We have to stay secret if the Rebellion is to survive the next attack."

Rey felt as if the world was crashing down around her at these words. The General was right, of course. What General Leia tactfully did not tell her was that she was a liability to the cause. Her connection to the Force opened the gateway for the Supreme Leader of the First Order himself to enter the hideout without the slightest resistance.

"He told me that this connection we have through the Force only lets him see me the hangar where I lay, and the path that BB8 led him to the Medical Bay. But he cannot trace which planet, which star system, which quadrant in the Galaxy our base lies. He did clarify that it was only a matter of time, and he will someday find this place and annihilate it once and for all. He knows that we are reduced to fixing old X Wings and using scrap for our fleet. "

"So the Force only lets him see according to what is needed between the both of you. You needed medical attention, and it pointed him to the nearest clinic where you could be tended."

"Yes."

General Organa frowned slightly at this new information. "And how long has this been going on, this force-bond between the two of you?"

"Since my first capture. When he probed my mind for information, in the same way that was done to Poe. But I resisted him, I was able to perceive his mind instead. And this connection has only gotten stronger in time."

General Organa's eyes widened in disbelief. "Stronger? Did Luke know about this?"

"Yes. In Ach-to, the connection allowed me to access Ben's memories of what truly happened on that night he burned down the Jedi temple. I was also able to see into his mind, and see the struggle he suffered. There is still hope in him, General. Master Luke and I felt it, and when I touched his hand, hundreds of lightyears away through the Force, I could see his future. He could be redeemed. He could be turned back towards the Light."

A tear rolled down General Organa's cheek. She closed her eyes for a long moment, as she allowed herself a few precious seconds to face her sorrow. "His father thought so too. Luke was also certain of it. It comforts me that Ben has struggled with this guilt. It shows that he has remorse, and he has not become the heartless monster that I was afraid he would become." She opened her eyes and gazed at Rey affectionately. "Thank you, Rey. My mother's heart is comforted knowing that Ben has you to anchor him to the Light, no matter how tiny the hope."

Rey's cheeks flushed in embarrassment. General Leia's eyes were telling her that the only reason Ben was turning back to the Light was because of her. His soulmate in the Force. When all the efforts of his parents and family had failed, Ben's emotional armor as a mighty Knight of Ren suffered a chink because he finally fancied a girl. Rey wondered if this was the first time that Leia knew about her son's love life. "It—it's really nothing," Rey stammered, as General Organa's lips curved into a knowing smile. "This connection we have was an accident, pure and simple. And when I finally learn how to sever it, he will be rid of me. It will be as if none of the events in the past two months have happened."

"I highly doubt that," General Organa replied crisply. Her face lit up as her eyes took on a far-away look, culling memories from the past when she was still merely a mother to a growing son. "I know Ben. He rarely had friends in his youth, and though he was a looker like his father, his heart has never been ensnared like this. I hardly had to make any effort introduce him to daughters—and sons—of reliable families I knew. His dark, brooding charm was a honeypot; he was always surrounded by admirers. But he was never distracted like this. Obsessed like this, about any living person. It is clear to me now that his power in the Force, when he is not driven by this avarice to be stronger than Darth Vader, increases and ebbs because of you."

"That can't be true," Rey murmured, her heart constricting at the pleading, yearning look in the General's face. It was similar to the look Kylo Ren gave her in Crait, when he had asked her wordlessly one last time not to leave him. "I'm sorry, General. I know that Master Luke entrusted me with the mission to save Kylo Ren…Ben…and bring him back to the Light. But I can't be responsible forever for your son. I am no one, merely a scavenger, at the very least, a mechanic in the Rebellion. If I fail—"

"If you fail, it will be because you have succumbed to him. Joined him," General Organa said earnestly. "He loves you, Rey, and I know my son enough that when he loves something, or someone, he will direct all his energy and resources to make you love him back. He will never let you go. That is simply who he is. Your fate and that of my son's are now tied together through the Force. You will be each other's ruination or victory."

Rey tore her eyes away from General Organa's. Her mind drifted back to her last encounter with Kylo Ren. "I will help him, but he can't be my responsibility forever."

General Organa felt a wave of sadness settle in her heart, as she saw the determined jut in Rey's jaw, showing her resolve to put a wall against the inevitable. _I suppose she has never fallen in love before_ , she thought. _But to fall in love with someone like my son…it is a heavy burden indeed. I wouldn't blame her for wanting a way out. IF she can find it._

"I don't suppose you can find it in yourself to love my son, just a little? Despite what he is," she ventured quietly. Rey closed her eyes for a second, as if she wanted to block the thought. But when she opened them and gazed fearlessly at the General, she was smiling, half in jest and trepidation.

"If it comes to that," Rey finally admitted to the General. "Do I really have a choice, with a man like your son?"

The General chuckled, and couldn't resist hugging Rey affectionately. "You poor, lovesick dear," she said.

General Organa and Rey spoke for a couple more hours about their strategy in defending the base against possible attacks from the First Order. The General grilled Rey even more about what her son could have known or perceived during the last sensory force bond encounter. Rey assured her that Kylo was unable to lie to her through the force bond, and she believed him when he said that he could not trace which planet or star system they were currently based. She welcomed the General's suggestion that she should move their base, but stated that after their encounter, the First Order might be monitoring the galaxy for a heavy volume of air traffic and supply carriers coming from a single location. The First Order might predict that the rebels would get paranoid and not believe Rey's words that Kylo Ren could not trace her location through the force bond.

"So, we just stay put then," General Organa ventured. Rey nodded.

"Until at least we could regain the fleet, arms and supplies that we once had before the events in Crait. Poe and I will double our efforts to repair and maintain our fleet. Rose and Finn can take care of acquiring new ones from this planet."

"That is a sound strategy. Nevertheless, we should prepare for an emergency escape and fortify the defenses of this base, in case my son deliberately hid the truth from you. We can never be sure, you understand."

Rey nodded. "Perfectly, General."

The General rose to make her exit, but paused and smiled down at Rey. She tenderly laid a kiss on the young woman's forehead and curved a hand to caress her cheek. "The Rebellion is blessed to have you, Rey. Without your help, who knows if we would have been still fortunate enough to have this conversation."

Rey smiled at her in response. "It is always an honour, General Organa."

The General's eyes softened. "My son also knows what a treasure you are, and if I am correct, he will never stop trying to find you. I hope you will find it in your heart to be with him, if that is truly your desire. I'm afraid, his father and I didn't show him the love he thought he deserved when he was growing up. I regret it now. I should have told him every day that I cherish him, and always will."

Rey's mind harkened back to that dark day when Kylo Ren pierced Han Solo with his light saber, and then to the moment when he asked her to let go of the past and to join him in ruling the galaxy. "He has always made his own choices. The people who love him can not control him any more than we can control the ways of the Force."

The General nodded sadly, but she smiled one last time at Rey. "Thank you. You are always a great comfort to me."

"General."

After General Organa left, exhaustion finally seeped into Rey's limbs, and she allowed her consciousness to slowly fade into deep sleep. In her dreams, snatches of the conversation she had with General Leia echoed back. General Leia Organa Skywalker, a veteran of two intergalactic wars and the most powerful General that the Resistance had ever had, shared with Rey her hopes and fears as the mother of the Supreme Leader, Kylo Ren. Rey could not help tearing up at the emotional turmoil she must struggle with every day in fighting the First Order, knowing that her decisions could inadvertently kill her son.

 _Inadvertently? My mother and her armies always went for the kill._

Rey gasped at Kylo Ren's voice speaking to her mind, and violently willed herself to wake up. But she was still stuck in her dream. She suddenly found herself in a coast-side mansion in a blue ocean planet, the sun warm and golden on her skin. The place felt familiar, but she had never been inside a lush property like this before. She must be in someone else's memory…Kylo Ren's.

 _Naboo. My grandmother's home planet. This was the castle where she and my grandfather secretly wed. She was the most powerful Opposition Senator of the Republic, and he was a slave turned a Jedi Knight._

"This place is beautiful," Rey murmured. She saw them before her: the beautiful, delicate woman with kind eyes and a golden-haired Jedi knight with an intense gaze who was even taller than Kylo Ren. As the sun set, Rey watched them pledge their troth to each other, exchange rings, and kiss. The woman was happy and smiled widely into the Jedi knight's soulful blue eyes. His golden robotic arm glinted in the sunlight as it caressed his wife's tumbling brown hair.

"I know their story," Rey murmured, as the memory of the couple faded with the ocean breeze. The legend of Anakin and Padme Skywalker was beloved back in Jakku, and she had heard an old hermit tell it by firelight during one of the planet's rare blue moon festivals. The sea breezes tickled the wisps of hair framing Rey's face as she narrated the sad saga of the Skywalker family.

"Anakin Skywalker foresaw his wife's death and was seduced to the Dark Side in his quest to prevent it. But he was troubled, he suspected treachery even from her whom he loved more than life itself. She died of a broken heart giving birth to Master Luke and General Organa. Anakin's bestfriend, Master Obi Wan Kenobi dueled with him, and defeated him. He severed his former student's arms and legs, but he could not bring himself to kill Anakin, even after what he had done to Padme and the Jedi Order. Because of his master's compassion, Anakin Skywalker was able to survive and be reborn into Darth Vader. For years, Darth Vader was deluded into thinking the Rebels killed his wife and children until Master Luke Skywalker revealed the truth to him and brought him back to the Light."

 _It sounds so sad and bittersweet when you tell it._

"It is a sad and bittersweet story," Rey retorted. "Your family's story."

 _You realize that Anakin Skywalker became the most powerful Sith Lord because of his quest for revenge for Padme's death and that of their children. And what's worse was that they were lies: his children were alive, Padme never betrayed him at all._

"The lies were necessary to protect his children," Rey hotly argued. "They would have been raised as Sith if Darth Vader had his hands on them."

 _They would have been powerful, as twins who used the Force to conquer and rule the galaxy. That was what their father had always wanted for them._

"To be enslaved to the Dark Side? Trained from birth to use the Force to subjugate entire worlds through anger, fear and hate? That was not what their mother would have wanted for them."

 _And I suppose you would know._

"I do! Your mother suffers everyday because of the choices you make to be controlled by the First Order. She feels lost and she misses you every day. She would have given everything to have you back again, her son, Ben Solo. You think that being powerful and conflicted like the way you are is what she would've wanted for you when she bore you and raised you as a child?"

 _She would have accepted me, just as I was. If she loved me. I have always been conflicted. Broken. The Light she wishes for me was something I have always struggled with. The dark side of the Force accepted my flaws, and made me even stronger despite of them._

"You are still broken and conflicted. It saps whatever good and compassion you have for others. You become someone who is to be feared, instead of to be loved. You thrive on hate and fear."

 _That is not such a bad thing. Fear keeps you alive. Hate shields you from pain. From loss. If my mother loved me, she would have accepted me as I was, regardless of whether I was a Sith or a Jedi. She and Han Solo never could accept that the darkness in me was part of who I am._

Rey sighed, exhausted at trying to reason with him. "I'm sorry. But I cannot see it that way. Maybe your mother was right; maybe you are lost. Nobody can save someone who doesn't want to be saved."

 _And you? Are you so set in your ways and beliefs that you cannot bend them for the one you love?_

Rey blushed. "I do not know who you mean. But the person I love would respect what I believe in. Love me despite of it. Accept me, and still be with me. He or she would just trust me to do the right thing."

 _You mean, to love blindly? To believe that everything will be set to rights because of love? Doesn't that sound familiar?_

Rey felt a movement, a stirring in the air near her, and to her surprise, it was Kylo Ren, who had materialized out of nowhere to stand beside her. He leaned his elbows on the balustrade to stare at the same sunset that she was gazing at.

"Wasn't that what Anakin expected from Padme? What I needed from my parents?" He turned to her and his eyes rested on Rey's lips, travelled down the slender line of her throat, and slowly traced back up her hotly blushing cheeks. "It is the same thing that you would ask from the person you love," Kylo Ren murmured to her.

Rey sighed and closed her eyes. She willed herself to wake up; she could not believe that again, she was unable to control the frequency and holding power of the force bond she shared with this man.

"This may have started out as a dream. But I am as helpless against it now as you are," Kylo Ren spoke. Rey refused to believe it, and tried to imagine herself waking up in her cot, away from the memory she was stuck in with him. "I'm sorry if you don't believe me," he said as Rey remained where she was. She let out wave after wave of energy from her palms, shooting into the air, but the gushes of power merely travelled upwards like invisible clouds, disappearing with a slight whoosh.

She glared at him bitterly. "So what now? Are we going to be stuck here forever until we achieve a purpose?"

"You mean like the last time when we connected? When I was able to come back to wherever I was after I gave you medical attention?"

"Wasn't that why you were dragged in there in the first place?"

"You still doubt it? You were in need. I saw you fall." Kylo Ren's eyes bored into hers with pure intensity. "I had no choice but to come to your side."

Rey refused to be undone again by the hunger and passion in Kylo Ren's gaze. She looked away. "And now? Why are were here? Don't we have a say when and where we force-bond like this? Or is this all your doing?" she accused him.

Kylo beamed, and gazed down at Rey. He thought she looked even more beautiful being stubborn like this, pointedly ignoring the tumult of emotions and desire that rippled off her skin when he was near. "If I was the one controlling these force connections, believe me, I wouldn't choose Naboo to be with you. Romantic, as it is, and very beautiful. But full of my family's sad history." He quirked a lazy eyebrow at her. "Hardly a setting for making love."

The blush in Rey's cheeks reddened, but she was set against succumbing to him. _Why are all these blue-blooded Skywalkers always so INFURIATING?_ Rey breathed furiously in and out of her nose, and struggled to think clearly above the haze of desire that suffused through her thoughts. "You were a fan of letting go of the past," she said. "Does this mean that you also deny your family's legacy to the Light? Your grandmother's sacrifice?"

Kylo Ren frowned at Rey, feeling defensive at her acerbic tone. "My parents have always rejected my grandfather's history, as if it was a blot that needed to be whitewashed and forgotten. Yet Darth Vader was stronger than any of us, stronger even than my Uncle. His love for my grandmother became his undoing, but only because he was manipulated and deceived. I will never make that mistake."

"No you won't, but you will still fail." Rey met Kylo Ren's glare levelly. Knowing that this was all a dream and that they were not actually meeting each other face to face gave Rey a peculiar kind of courage. "Your grandfather had a purpose to his quest for power. He wanted the skill to save his wife from death. Now that you have killed your father and forced your uncle to an untimely demise, why are you still holding on? To kill the love you still bear for your mother? Do you think that will make you stronger?"

Her words made their desired effect on Kylo Ren's emotions. At the mention of General Organa, a storm of anger and hatred passed over him, and he visibly quivered as he glared down at Rey.

"Do not presume to know me," he growled. "Maybe you think that this is all a dream, but I can still easily kill you right here and right now."

"Try it," Rey snarled back at him. "Killing me won't change a thing."

They glared at each other for several seconds, both of their hands itching to switch on their light sabers. But they had gone to this force bond unarmed. Rey waited for Kylo Ren to make his first move. Her mind was racing as to the possible scenarios that she could defend herself in hand-to-hand combat, when she saw his face suddenly soften with bewilderment.

"You weren't really thinking of defending yourself from me, were you?" he asked, incredulous at the genuine bloodlust that he saw in her eyes. "You really thought that I would hurt you?"

Rey was about to spit back a reply, when Kylo chuckled, bent down, and pressed a kiss on her forehead. Rey held out her palm to repel him with the Force, but he circled her wrist with his hand, and cupped her cheek with the other.

"I can't beat you," Kylo whispered close to Rey, sending chills up her spine as his breath warmed the hollow of her ear. "You are far better than me in many ways, including combat." He turned his head to inhale the scent of her hair. Rey closed her eyes against the feel of his lips on her scalp. "But I can love you. And when you finally love me back, we will be each other's damnation. You can either be at my side, ruling the galaxy through the dark side of the Force; or be a prisoner of my desire as my beautiful Jedi queen."

Kylo Ren dragged his lips down Rey's ear and into the intoxicating crook of her neck. Rey felt herself weaken as a pool of silky warmth gathered at the center of her loins . He pushed her back to lean against the nearest column, his mouth desperately kissing the smooth, fine skin of her jaw and Rey arched her back against the hard surface, her skin burning at the places that Kylo Ren touched possessively and hungrily. A low, guttural moan escaped from him as their lips met, open-mouthed, gasping for breath. Rey felt her legs give away, his arms wrapped around her to support her weight, and she closed her eyes as Kylo Ren parted her thighs with his knee.

"Be mine," he said, as his lips left trails of hot kisses between her breasts and on the delicate bones of her shoulder blades. "Rey."

"Rey," someone said urgently in another familiar voice. Poe's. Rey immediately opened her eyes, and saw that she was back in her hospital cot in the Resistance base. She was completely covered by the thick, multicolored woolen blanket that she had wrapped around the Poe last night. She was thankful for this, as her body was still tingling from her physical intimacy with Kylo Ren and she still felt a silky wetness trickling between her thighs. She was still unsure whether or not it had all been a dream. Above her were Poe, Finn and Rose's anxious and relieved faces. They grinned as she looked at them in wide-eyed surprise.

"Welcome back!" they chorused. They had brought hot soup and newly baked bread from the kitchens. They immediately began to apologize to her about not having been woken up to help her get into the medical bay.

"Who carried you to the medical bay?" Poe asked.

"Why didn't BB8 wake us up about what happened to you?" Rose asked.

"How did your talk with General Organa go?" Finn asked.

They waited until she had swallowed some soup and eaten the bread they had carried for her. She gathered her thoughts, and began telling them everything that she knew.

 _ *****End of Chapter One**_

 _~This was my first fanfiction story. I was a little disappointed that Rey's training with Luke seemed so perfunctory and blasé. I wanted to write a fic where Rey feels like she still has a lot to learn in learning the ways of the Force. As a reylo fan, I also wanted to explore the mysterious connection that Rey has with Kylo Ren. There was a little smut, which is inevitable when you have a pairing with such blistering hot chemistry as between Rey and Kylo Ren. But I still prefer a slow-burn story, with lots of meaningful imagery and talking by kindred spirits. I'm afraid I am one of those old-fashioned souls who find more romance and intimacy through conversation, and sees sex (hardcore or otherwise) as an inevitable outcome of two people coming together and giving in to their mutual attraction._

 _I know that there were a lot of weaknesses in this story because I'm not particularly skilled at all in writing fiction. I have ideas, tons of them, and I just wanted to string them together into one reasonably cohesive narration. I've crossed my fingers and thrown caution to the wind! I hope you enjoyed what I have written!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

It had not been easy for Rey to narrate what had happened to her since the Rebels' escape from Crait. But her friends listened, held her hand in the moments when she needed it, and waited for her to finish. As she went on, however, Rey observed that they all processed her story differently. Rose looked at her with a mixture of shock and pity. Finn felt like he was reliving his days again as FN-2187 as he listened to Rey's description of Kylo Ren forcing his presence on her mind and being unable to freely slip out of her nightmare. Poe was horrified. Rey sensed that he couldn't believe how unfair it was that Kylo Ren could easily slip out of thin air, against the laws of physics and reason, to the inner chambers of the Resistance base without even a single blaster or gun blocking his way. He was shocked that General Leia had accepted this so matter-of-factly, as if it was a normal hindrance in their daily activities as Resistance rebels.

"General Organa knows that Kylo Ren's powers are limitless. She has sensed it, witnessed it made manifest throughout the years of our struggle," Rey told him. "What we can do is to go on. We can still fight. There is still hope."

The remnants of their shared meal lay abandoned: half-eaten bowls of chicken soup, forgotten crusts of bread and half-empty glasses of thin beer. They were all quiet except for the hum of the air-conditioning unit, and the distant bleep of electrical instruments. Rose, Finn and Poe sat immobile, as if Rey had woven a spell barring them from speaking or moving.

Rey's eyes darted to each of her friends in worry. She had left out a lot of things, of course: her intimate conversations with Kylo Ren about his loneliness and need for acceptance, and more starkly, the hot, sweltering moments when he kissed her and claimed her with his caresses. She didn't even tell them about how General Leia Organa thought that she was the only one who can save her son. She thought that it would undermine the General's authority, and this was a dangerous thing. Rey could see fear and uncertainty emanating from her friends like waves.

"Please," Rey pleaded to them. "We still have our freedom. Our lives. Don't be discouraged like this."

Finn finally spoke. "This musn't get beyond us, or General Organa. If the other rebels know, they'll freak out. They wouldn't know how to defend themselves when Kylo Ren suddenly appears out of nowhere to slaughter them in their sleep."

Rey shook her head. "It doesn't work like that. He won't use it as a gateway. He can't. He doesn't have that kind of power at all."

"How would you know, Rey? Why are you so certain that he's not lying to you?" As soon as he saw the helpless look in Rey's eyes, Finn immediately regretted his words. "No. You can't be."

"Finn," Rose warned, as Rey flinched at Finn's accusatory glare. "She's not certain yet of what she feels. He could just be manipulating her. We should heed General Organa's words and fortify our defenses while getting ready to make a quick escape. Don't you dare put this on her!"

"I'm not!" Finn protested. He relented when Rey tore his eyes from him. "Rey, look, I'm sorry. We are all on the edge here. We are just scared that we won't know how to defend ourselves. This is just crazy."

"No, we can't defend ourselves from him," Poe finally spoke. "But Rey can. She simply needs to find a teacher to help her block him from her mind or to sever their connection. So that it'll be him, and not Rey, who'll be stuck in their dream."

Poe's words piqued Rose's interest. "That's actually not a bad idea." She looked meaningfully at Rey and grinned. The implications of what she was suggesting stunned Rey, and her jaw dropped in shock. "Are you of out your mind?" Rey laughed in disbelief. "How can you even suggest such a thing?"

"It's not like you'd get hurt at all," Rose pleaded. "You're just going to…lure him. Then we capture him. Nothing weird even has to happen before that."

Rey looked at Poe, who appeared to find Rose's idea particularly inviting. He smiled at Rey, half guiltily, without the slightest hint of shame. "This beats wasting lives, air fighters and fuel just to infiltrate their base," he argues. "You have to at least consider this."

"I think I'd much rather have him slaughter us all in our sleep," Finn grumbled. Rey couldn't help agreeing with him.

"I'll think about it," Rey tells them, pulling the covers of Poe's woolen blanket up to her chin. She could sense the surface thoughts emanating from her friends on how to improve her image as a potential honeypot. She closed her eyes against their thoughts in horror. "Seriously?" she cried out to them.

"Let your hair down," Rose suggested. "You have beautiful hair, Rey."

Poe shrugged. "You look fine as you are now, actually. Maybe wipe that dirt off your face a bit. And you have a beauty mole near the curve of your cleavage. Flaunt it." He blushed when Rey and Finn glowered at him. He raised his palms up in surrender. "It's just a suggestion. I'm just saying, men…well, they wouldn't be able to resist that."

Finn still looked like he was about to participate in human sacrifice.

"If I learn how to sever our connection before this reaches General Organa," Rey hissed, "Can we please just forget about this plan?"

Poe, Finn and Rose exchanged looks. Finn looked slightly green, as Poe and Rose gave Rey identical hooded grins.

To Rey's chagrin, the Medical Officer refused to discharge her for the next two days. She protested that she felt fine and could go back to repairing and prepping the fleet with the pilots. She explained that she had suffered worse injuries back in Jakku, and her body usually healed after only a good night's sleep. The Medical Officer listened patiently, but still refused to release her.

"You took a whole voltage straight up your arm from the power source," he told her. "Do you understand how dangerous that was? We need to monitor you for at least two more days. If someone else who wasn't Force-sensitive had that accident, the neurons in your brain would be fried and irreparably destroyed, AT THE VERY LEAST, and you'd be a drooling, blabbering paralytic right now who can't even eat, drink or pee without outside help."

Rey retreated into a glum silence. The doctor finished examining her, patted her hands and gave her a gentle, comforting smile.

"Cheer up, now," he said. "You can still meditate. But please, no intense physical exercises. Trust me on this, Rey. You are extremely important to the Resistance. We have to be sure that you are out of danger."

Rey nodded. "Thank you, Doctor."

The Medical Officer had no idea, of course, that the meditation Master Luke Skywalker had taught her was more physically and mentally demanding than simple bodily exercises. Rey had to empty her mind first and diminish her receptivity to her immediate surroundings before she could reach out to connect with the Force. With unerring purpose, she slipped into the stream of awareness and life energy that connected every single thing in the Resistance Base. She saw with her mind's eye Poe, Rose and Finn diligently helping one another and Resistance personnel in gathering weapons, aircraft and supplies. She saw General Organa and her officers receive intelligence through encrypted holograms and coded communication that the First Order was methodically and brutally conquering each civilization in the Galaxy, even the ones who had been full members of the Republic. It forcefully extracted tributes of wealth, slaves and resources while mercilessly murdering suspected Opposition agents, politicians and scholars. The First Order seemed certain that the Resistance would be unable to stop its campaigns. Its success, without the slightest X Wing fighter or armed rebel stopping its path, sowed fear throughout the Galaxy.

General Organa and her admirals debated on whether to strike now, or to wait until they had regained sufficient resources to launch a renewed attack. Recruitment for personnel was slow, as the transport of soldiers, pilots and other necessary manpower had to be done in secret and through aircraft that could be hidden from the First Order's scanners. Funds for the purchase of supplies, new fleet, equipment and other instruments were trickling in from allied civilizations who had been loyal to the Rebellion from the old wars, and from new ones who resented the First Order's regime of acquiring unspecified tributes through terror and force. Not one officer in the Council doubted that the Resistance still needed time. They had to plan their next attack carefully. When they strike a blow, it must be a major attack that the First Order could not recover easily, after which they should immediately launch a succession of attacks on the major lines that supplied resources and armies to the First Order's top brass.

Listening to these meetings, Rey was getting uncomfortable at the possibility that Poe and Rose could be right. If they capture Kylo Ren, the First Order would be no more. The reign of terror that the Knights of Ren inflicted on the galaxy would give way to the reinstatement of the Republic, the gathering of the Senate and the promotion of democracy and representative rule among the hundreds of star systems.

"By being a honeypot?" she whispered, appalled. "The fate of the galaxy actually depends on my ability to show my beauty mole?" The Force gave her no reply, no indication that anyone was listening. Rey refused to even consider what Kylo Ren would think about such plan, but she still imagined his sober, grave features breaking out into an appreciative, secretive smile. _Yeah, he would find this funny,_ she thought grimly. _Just darn hilarious_. With so much uncertainty tingeing her resolve, Rey felt her mind losing its connection to the Force. She eased out of her meditation and opened her eyes, her senses opening up to the familiar sights and smells of the empty Medical Bay.

"Freaking Resistance," Rey muttered under her breath. Still, there was a nagging pull at the back of her mind that told her she must hurry with her decided plan of action. The Resistance could not afford to stall their attack. If she couldn't think of another brilliant plan before she would be discharged from treatment, the honeypot-plot, Rey inwardly cringed at the crude mental label that her mind assigned to Poe and Rose's strategy, would become unavoidable.

As her hours in confinement passed on, Rey meditated and opened her consciousness to the possibility of force-bonding with Kylo Ren. _I might be able to talk him, convince him_ , she thought. _Make him see if I push my memories of General Organa and Chewbacca to his mind's eye that he can still be redeemed, that he will never be abandoned by his family_. But he never came, never spoke again to her mind when she reached out with the Force. Not a hint of his aura or a whisper of his voice. Rey wondered if he had decided to forget about her or to wipe out his memory of her using the Force. _Well that settles it, then_ , Rey thought with sober humor, after a long session of meditation that left her feeling empty but with a grating headache that brought a painful throbbing at the back of her eyes. _My beauty mole will have to remain hidden_ , she thought with a bitter laugh. Rey examined her feelings about this new development and was surprised that she felt a little dejected at his passive rejection. _Don't be silly_ , she scolded herself. _This is the best outcome I could ever hope for_. _He has let go, and there is no reason for me to be holding on_. She can now fight him and the First Order with a clear conscience, without hesitation, and with a heart rid of unnecessary emotional attachments _. It will make it easier for me to actually kill him_ , she thought equivocally.

She told Rose about this two days later as they waited for the doctor to arrive for his final diagnostic visit. Finn and Poe were on a mission in a distant star system to recruit new technical experts and pilots for their replenished fleet. Rose had stayed behind to assist Rey after her medical confinement and to oversee the responsibilities of updating the base's security systems.

Rose peered at her friend with concern. "That's good to hear. But are you okay with being able to recover from this so quickly?"

Rey nodded. "Of course I am. Now I am sure that all those words he said to me and the emotions he manifested when we were together were all just part of his scheme to manipulate me and use me."

A slight frown passed through Rose's face. "I thought you said that he could not lie to you in this Force bond. If what you say is true, then everything that happened between you was a fabrication too, and that he is even more powerful than you in using the Force because he can mask his true intent even when you have access to his mind."

Rey shrugged, and tried to appear nonchalant and dismissive at Rose's observation. But she felt an intense, keening pain pierce through her like a dagger at her friend's words. _He has actually done this before_ , she wanted to tell Rose. _When he killed his Master Snoke._

"It'll be alright," Rey assured Rose. Her lips curved into a smile, and she forced it to reach her eyes and light them up as Rose gazed at Rey worriedly. "I know now how he will try to manipulate me and my feelings. I can resist him. And I promise you, Rose, that I will never be defeated that way. Not by anyone."

Rose nodded, and impulsively gave Rey a hug. Rey leaned into her arms and closed her eyes, fighting against a wave of tears and the heartbreaking realization that she had just lost something precious, something that had been worth fighting for.

Rey threw herself into her work immediately after she was discharged from the clinic. Her friends cast worried glances her way, but she ignored them, and even doubled her pace of work. Rey decided that she needed to forget, too. Needed to block the slightest hint of her memories involving Kylo Ren. Work and the desperate pace demanded by the rebels to complete the quota for the repaired and improved fleets filled her long hours. When exhaustion finally obliterated her final reserves of energy, she begged the Medical Officer for his strongest sleeping draughts.

He was masked and garbed in surgical scrubs. He had his hands up, and yellow-orange alien blood from the fighter pilot he had been operating on stained his elbow-length gloves. The doctor wrinkled his dark blue eyebrows at her and flatly said no. "Look at you. You can barely stand on your own two feet. What do you need the draughts for?"

"Please," Rey begged. "I need to stop dreaming."

His deep indigo eyes searched hers. "Why?"

Rey glared at him. "Are you going to give them to me or not?"

His eyes widened slightly at her aggression. "Are you going to force me to give them to you using your powers?"

"Do you want me to?"

He laughed, and immediately apologized when he saw that it irritated Rey even more. "You don't need the sleeping draughts," he said gently. "Just some pills to chemically block the neural pathways that make you dream. Let me clean up a bit. I'll get them for you."

When he returned, cleaned up and smelling of strong soap, Rey saw the Medical Officer's face for the first time. She was surprised that he was human, with a shock of electric blue hair, and winged eyebrows of the same shade of blue. A straight nose, beautiful poreless skin that put his age probably in his late twenties or early thirties, a generous mouth with slight laugh lines that curved at the edges of his lips. He was tall. _Probably as tall as Kylo Ren_ , Rey couldn't help thinking. _Stop it_ , she scolded herself. His gaze on her conflicted, exhausted, drained face was warm and affectionate. But Rey could sense that the doctor was hiding something. There was a veil behind those friendly eyes. He had a secret. A whopping big one. But Rey was too exhausted to probe into his thoughts.

"Thank you," Rey said, avoiding the doctor's gaze, as he handed a vial containing ten red pills. She couldn't for the life of her remember what his name actually was.

"You're welcome," he said. He pulled back the surgical mask back to cover his mouth and turned to go back to the operating room. But after a few steps, he paused, and glanced back at Rey. His last words to her were muffled through the mask. "Be on your guard, alright?" He didn't wait for her answer. Rey rushed back to her room and didn't even bother to undress. She swallowed two of the pills and lay down on her bed, her head dropping on her pillow, heavy as a rock.

Rey immediately slipped into a deep sleep. She wallowed in a black, formless ether that enveloped her mind like a warm cloud. She didn't dream, didn't find herself transported to a memory or any other place. Nobody and nothing intruded her mind. She was floating and completely aware of a comforting emptiness. It was pure pleasure to be alone with just herself. Near the end, when she knew that she should be waking up to a new day, Rey knew that the gaping emotional wound that Kylo Ren's absence left on her mind was halfway healed.

Rey started her day by throwing herself on the last dilapidated carrier on her list. She didn't even wait for Poe, Rose and Finn to join her, and even pointedly hid herself from them. The dullness caused by the chemical residues of the pills left Rey a little groggy, but it was quickly disappearing as her hands got busy. As the hours ploughed on, Rey sensed her mind opening up to the surface thoughts of the people around her. It was then that she discovered that the Medical Officer, Dr. Thanos, had escaped the base. Rey descended down the maintenance ladder in open-mouthed shock, her hand still clutching a pair of battered channel lock pliers. The rebels were abuzz that he had probably been a First Order spy. The cameras had been wiped out of all the video surveillance from the last twelve hours. The security systems that Rose and Finn worked so hard at to update had been reset and carefully and thoughtfully screened to delete only the information within the period of possible escape. It had all been done masterfully and swiftly. There was also a missing plane from the fleet that the doctor has probably used to escape. Rey realized that it was the X Wing Fighter that she had been repairing on the night she had been electrocuted.

 _Miss Rey._

Rey stopped, her breath stopping at the small, anxious voice that tentatively spoke to her mind. The image that accompanied the voice was hazy, but it belonged to a small child garbed in simple clothes of pale wool with a blue sash belt. A little girl with golden blonde curls. She was in a beach of white sand, and when the image finally cleared in her mind, Rey saw that she was the same girl whom she had seen once when she searched the Force. The one with a twin brother who had strawberry red hair, and a mother who cursed Rey for being Luke Skywalker's apprentice.

 _Who are you?_

The little girl's eyes widened in wonder at Rey's reply, and she called to someone at her side excitedly. "She answered back, Tom! She's here! She's here!"

A delicate-boned boy with tousled, shining red hair ran to the girl's side, clutching a spade and a dirty toy trowel. He looked like he'd been rolling in the sand; he was covered with it from head to toe. The boy had solemn forest-green eyes, heavy and full of unspoken secrets. They looked at Rey in wonder. They were the opposite of his sister's, which were as blue as the ocean and filled with joy at meeting Rey.

"My name is Tom Halsey. My sister is Yvaine Halsey." The boy spoke to Rey's mind soundlessly, through thoughts, and it was both incredibly adorable and unnerving to watch him. But he stumbled to his side, as his sister jumped and wrapped her chubby little arms around his neck. Yvaine was laughing with pleasure at finally meeting Rey.

"We've been trying to connect with you FOR AGES," Yvaine gushed. Her teeth were like perfect little pearls. Tom tried to shush and quiet her down, but his sister kept on jumping up and down, throwing her weight on Tom's slight frame.

"Geroff, Vany! Have you forgotten why we need to talk to her! This is important!" Tom scolded through his sister's excited laughter. Yvaine immediately sobered at her brother's words, and she stood still, her mind quieting, as if she was concentrating on strengthening the Force connection between the three of them.

"Miss Rey, we don't have much time," Tom spoke, as he locked hands with her sister. They both looked so vulnerable and innocent standing by the ocean's edge, but Rey knew that these children were both incredibly powerful. She was touched that they had been trying to reach her. "Please listen. You are in grave danger."

Rey felt a small gallop of fear run up her spine.

"The bad woman with violet hair. She will find you," Tom said earnestly.

"She loves your bond-mate. She wants to kill you," Yvaine spoke.

The alarms in the hangar began to blare deafeningly, and Rey then knew that the twins were right. Their eyes widened in fear and they chorused pleadingly to her, "Run, Miss Rey!"

Their Force connection dissipated and Rey felt R2D2 roll to her side and chirp in binary sounds that Poe and General Leia were looking for her. Rey ran to the command room, where the Generals and rebel officers were looking at the scanner showing a triangle of six hostile aircraft approaching their planet.

"So few?" Rey asked.

"It looks like a routine survey mission," Lieutenant Connix observed. "An upsilon class shuttle, three TIE fighters, two carriers. It could be one of the Knights of Ren, with a small contingent of clone soldiers."

"Is it my son?" General Leia asked.

"No," Rey replied. Everyone in the command room looked at her in surprise. "I'd be certain if it was him. It's one of the Knights of Ren. A woman with violet hair."

Lieutenant Connix nodded. "That's an affirmative, General. This is one of the lesser shuttles. We've received information that Kylo Ren has commissioned a far superior vehicle as his transport."

General Leia paled, and the rebel officers sucked in their breath in fear. Poe groaned. "It's that harpy again. We should've known she'd never stop searching for the General."

"Who is she?" Rey asked. She felt a tremor of anxiety under her skin. The Halsey twins had shown fear from their vision of the violet-haired Knight's arrival, and Rey wondered if she was powerful enough to face her.

"Vittoria Holdo. Alice Ren," General Organa replied. "She's the High Marshall of the Knights of Ren. She made a vow to Snoke to kill me and bring my head in a platter made of the bones of Resistance rebels. I guess despite his death, she is still out for my blood."

"Holdo? Like, Vice Admiral Holdo…Holdo?" Finn asked in wonder.

"She and her sister, Rebecca, another Knight of Ren, were the Vice Admiral's nieces. The crown princesses of Planet Wheldon. They surrendered the planet and enslaved their people to the service of the First Order, and the Vice Admiral has been fighting against them since."

Poe spoke to the General urgently. "We need to get you out of here, General. We can protect you. We have been preparing for a worse attack, but you will never know what kind of party Alice Ren has in mind."

Rey nodded. "I'll stay, and face her." She set aside the twins' plea that she should run. But she knew that for the General to successfully escape, she had to face Alice Ren and stall enough time and opportunity for all the rebels to escape with the stockpiled resources.

"General, the contingent arriving at the planet has not called for reinforcements," Lieutenant Connix updated them. "But they are approaching the planet at great speed. In a few moments, they will be scanning the surface for generator-based electromagnetic activity."

"Go," Rey urged the rebels desperately. General Leia curved her palm on Rey's cheek, and Rey smiled, covering the old woman's hand with her own to draw comfort and strength.

"Alice Ren loves my son with a sickening passion," the General told her grimly. "She thinks that Ben will love her if she destroys the women he has given his heart to. Be careful of her, Rey." Rey nodded and watched the General as she rushed with the rest of the rebels to the waiting aircraft carriers. Rey was surprised to see that Finn and Rose had stayed behind with her, and was helping her switching off secondary power systems. She tried to convince them to go with the rebels, but Rose and Finn cut her off.

"We're not leaving without you. We don't care what you think about this," Finn said, as Rose hugged Rey tightly. "All four of us are leaving this place together. Chewbacca's standing by with the Millenium Falcon."

Rose watched their comrades take off through the carriers, X Wing fighters and storage aircraft that had long been prepped for immediate evacuation. Poe gave them a salute and wished them goodluck before taking off. "They won't be detected," Rose murmured, as if she was speaking to convince herself. "I updated the cloaking systems of each of them, based on the technology Finn and I analyzed in the Star Dreadnought."

"They will still be able to detect the electromagnetic waves from our generators in this base," Finn said worriedly. "Will there be time to switch them off after the last ship takes off?"

"We need a couple of hours at least," Rose answered. Her petite face darkened. "That Medical Officer did this. Dr. Thanos. We should've known he was a First Order spy."

Rey frowned thoughtfully. "What's peculiar is that there are no reinforcements to this small troop. Dr. Thanos would have told them that this was our primary base, that General Organa is here."

"Maybe they think that five ships and one Knight of Ren was enough to wipe us all," Rose said uncomfortably. "I've heard stories about this Alice Ren. Back in my home planet, stories of her brutality were used to scare children into good behavior."

Rey inhaled deeply, and pushed back her disquiet about her impending battle with Alice Ren. "I'll be fine. I'll stall for time until the gunners escape with the ammunition supplies," Rey decided. She gave her friends a reassuring grin. "Trust me."

The First Order's Upsilon Class Shuttle landed softly on the grassy meadow that half-covered the ground entrance of the Resistance base. The secondary carriers followed, and troops of clone soldiers streamed out of them to surround the underground complex. Rey, Poe and Rose had been able to switch off the last of the base's generators after the last carrier ammunition ship took off at light speed, but it was too late; the scanners had already pinpointed the base's location. Their only hope of escape lay in the element of surprise, and they prayed that the Millenium Falcon will not be shot down by the three TIE fighters that lay above the base, waiting.

Rey hid. Rose and Finn waited inside the Millenium Falcon and switched on the ship's cloaking system to Chewbacca's chagrin, who had been hoping for a fresh, blood-soaked fight after weeks of being confined inside the Resistance base. There was still the possibility that the survey patrol would leave them alone, despite finding traces of the rebels' hasty retreat. Rey revealing herself to the Knight of Ren, who easily decrypted the security codes for the opening of the base's door and commanded her soldiers to go in, would be the last resort.

Rey watched the approaching Knight of Ren, her curvy, long-legged body garbed in the same shade of black as that of her Supreme Leader. Alice Ren's face was masked by a simple helmet that hugged the elegant planes of her face. Rey carefully hid her Force signature, and sent waves of the Force towards the Millenium Falcon to shield the life force signatures of her friends. Alice Ren stopped directly in front of the gate of the rebel base. She tilted her head and raised her arm, as if she was sensing for something or someone. The clone soldiers entered the base, inspected each room. Minutes later, they trooped to their leader to report that there were no remaining rebels in the base, but there had been evidence of a hasty retreat.

Alice Ren laughed, a grating cruel peal that sounded to Rey like a stream of falling gravel. "You blind fools. They're here. SHE's here."

"We wait your command, Lady Ren," the clone lieutenant stated.

"The TIE fighters will wait above the entrance and shoot down any aircraft that comes out of it," Alice Ren commanded. "I will face them. When I am done, you may bring the bodies to the surface and burn them."

"Very good, my Lady."

Alice Ren took out two circular weapons. The blades of these weapons were red lasers caused by Khyber crystals delicately set like rays of a small metal sun. Rey only had her staff. She had still been repairing Luke Skywalker's lightsaber and she had it in her knapsack inside the Millenium Falcon. She doubted if she can defend herself with a wooden weapon. Rey decided that she was just going to trust her gut in defeating this Lady Knight in combat, just as she trusted her instinct when she killed the Praetorian Guards in Snoke's Throne Room.

"We can do this in a civilized way, and face each other honorably," Alice Ren called out. "Or I can drag you out from whatever rathole you have skulked to." She smirked loudly. "After I pull out your friends from that cloaked decrepit ship that should've been put to scrap decades ago."

Rey felt a ripple of panic, but she immediately calmed down, and hoped that Finn and Rose will not do anything rash to reveal the location of the Millenium Falcon.

"I knew you were here," Alice Ren talked accusingly, her eyes still searching for the slightest movement as she walked the length of the hangar. "Bacchus couldn't stop talking about a female mechanic whom General Organa loved as a daughter. After I kill you and your rebel friends, I will cut out your heart and send it to the General as a gift."

Alice Ren stopped a few feet away from where Rey was hiding. Slowly, she peeled off her mask, revealing a beautiful, delicately boned face, dark violet eyebrows, and a long mane of straight dark violet hair. "The Supreme Leader Kylo Ren told me how you want to see the face of the person who will end your life," she purred. Rey raised an eyebrow skeptically at the Lady Knight's words. _Yeah, and I ended up almost slicing his face in half,_ she thought in grim satisfaction.

Alice Ren was still, her slim body erect, as if she was waiting for an ambush.

"The hard way, then," she said quietly. She raised her arm and clenched her fist, and Rey immediately felt a blistering hot rush of the Force pulling her feet first towards Alice Ren's crackling circular blades. Rey slapped her palm into open air and shoved away the Force wave with one of her own. She scrambled to her feet, but Alice Ren had already charged towards her, the circular blades almost slicing her neck and womb. Rey swept her body backwards and evaded Alice Ren's successive attacks. She tried to block the blades with her staff, but the wooden weapon shattered into several pieces upon contact with Alice Ren's weapons.

"You can't evade me forever, scavenger," Alice Ren gave a low laugh.

Rey glared at her. "I just did." Rey finally stooped low and swung her leg, tripping Alice Ren off her feet. The Knight stumbled, and Rey instantly smacked a flat wave of Force energy against her unprotected chest. Alice Ren staggered backwards, and Rey was about to lean towards her to grab her weapons, when Alice Ren swung a circular blade towards Rey's throat. Rey planted her feet and backed away just in time, the crackling laser blade barely centimeters from her skin.

Alice Ren stood still, coughing painfully, but she still held her circular blades in front of her, expecting an attack. A thin thread of blood trickled down the side of her mouth.

Rey was breathing heavily, beads of sweat forming on the surface of her skin. _This needs to end now,_ she thought.

Rey copied Alice Ren's Force motion and raised her arm towards the Knight's neck. She clenched her fingers. Alice Ren struggled as she rose fifteen feet into the air and began choking as Rey forcibly constricted her larynx. Her circular lightsaber blades clanged as they hit the floor. _Let go_ , an unfamiliar voice told Rey as she struggled to maintain her hold on Alice Ren. _The Jedi do not kill!_ The Knight of Ren's long legs thrashed around, and her arms flailed around as she tried to concentrate a wave of the Force towards Rey. But Rey held on, her teeth baring at the extreme effort.

"Rey!" She heard Rose's voice call out to her, but it seemed as if she was miles away. "We can go!"

"Rey!" Finn's voice called out desperately.

 _If I let go, she will attack_. Rey thought. _She will slaughter us all._

 _If you hold on any longer, she will die,_ the voice told her. _Are you a killer?_

Rey let go of Alice Ren's larynx. The Lady Knight began gasping for breath, but she was still suspended in open air. Rey forced Alice Ren's arms to stick to her sides as she let herself be led by Rose and Finn inside the Millenium Falcon. "You Jedi whore! I'm going to kill you! You baseborn scum!" Alice Ren screamed in fury, her eyes blazing at Rey in utter hate. "I'm going to kill you! Kill you!"

Rey rushed to the pilot's seat beside Chewbacca, who hugged her and moaned that they have to go. They swiftly switched on the controls, but Finn and Rose pointed out to her as the Falcon's engines were firing up that Alice Ren was still stuck in the air, directly in front of the propellers.

Rey used the Force to move Alice Ren to the waiting troops of clone soldiers who immediately caught her. But she still bound the Lady Knight's arms close to her body and stuck her legs together in a vise-like Force grip.

"Shields!" Rey said to Chewbacca as they began moving the Millenium Falcon out of the hangar. "Finn, Rose, the guns!"

"There are still three TIE fighters above the base waiting to blow us up!" Finn shouted, as he and Rose took up their positions.

Rey speeded up the Millenium Falcon out of the gates and flipped the ship 360 degrees to land behind the three TIE fighters waiting above the complex. Finn and Rose waved to them before they shot them multiple times. As the TIE fighters crashed, Rey glanced back at Alice Ren. She was still screaming and violently wriggling her bound body on the ground beside her soldiers, who indiscriminately fired at the Millenium Falcon with their blasters. Rey couldn't help thinking that she would face her again in the future.

"Pedal to the metal," Chewbacca moaned, and Rey accelerated the ship against the gravitational pull of the planet. When they reached space, they saw in horror that the First Order's Class Destroyer had just come out of light speed along with hundreds of enemy battlecruisers. Rey immediately felt Kylo Ren's Force Signature, as well as a gathering of other powerful Force signatures surrounding him, like red flames edged with black. Panic surged inside her like a wave. Almost by blind reflex, Rey immediately caused the Millenium Falcon's to jump to lightspeed, and everybody melted to their seats in relief.

Moments later, they gathered in the ship's cockpit. Rey was still breathing heavily in the pilot's chair, the adrenaline in her body finally giving way to a heavy weariness. She could still feel the blistering hot ropes of Alice Ren's deadly force wave on her legs, pulling her out of hiding place. She closed her eyes, and the memory of the Knight's maniacal anger seemed to sear into her retinas.

 _Those other Force signatures surrounding Kylo Ren's…_ she thought. _Ominous ones. All intensely powerful. Those could be the Knights of Ren._

"Are you alright?" Chewbacca's gentle inquiry cut through her thoughts. Rey opened her eyes and nodded. The wookie kissed her on the forehead, told her she did an awesome job, and left the cockpit, telling her that he will be resting until they could rejoin the Resistance Rebels.

Finn and Rose hugged Rey, and they checked her face and arms for any visible injuries.

"You kicked serious ass, my friend," Finn said admiringly. "That lady was even scarier than Kylo Ren."

"Yeah, what was her problem?" Rose asked. "That was the first time you two met, right? What beef did she have with you?"

Rey shook her head in wide-eyed disbelief. "I don't know. The General warned me that she has a thing for Kylo Ren, and she was saying something about how the General loved me as a daughter. That fight was personal. "

"Who's Bacchus?" Finn asked. "Do you think she meant the traitor doctor?"

"Maybe he's one of the Knights of Ren."

"I felt them, by the way," Rey announced, her voice quavering slightly. Rose and Finn instantly quieted down. "In that Destroyer that led the First Order Fleet. They were there with Kylo Ren."

"Did Kylo Ren reach out to you?" Rose asked.

"No. There wasn't time. But if I could feel him and his Knights, then of course he must've known that we were able to escape from Alice Ren."

"We would have been captured if we didn't jump to lightspeed right away," Finn said in wonder. "Well, they can't track us now. We updated the security systems on this jalopy back in the base."

"What matters is we're all okay," Rose said. She checked the monitors, and happily informed them that they will be travelling out of lightspeed in a few seconds to join the rest of the Rebel fleet in the Myrra Star system. "When we get back, you should totally tell the General that you ruffled that Alice Ren's feathers."

Rey laughed, and was about to joke about her fight, when the beep for an incoming holocron came on. They smiled when they saw General Leia's anxious face, who immediately sighed in relief when she saw Rey, Finn and Rose's happy faces. "Are you all there?" the General asked.

"Yes, General. Chewbacca is resting. We're all safe and we'll be coming out of light speed in a few seconds."

The General nodded. "I need you to report to me personally. See you in a few moments."

The new base for the Resistance rebels was on a sprawling lakeside manor, surrounded by a mountain range carpeted with heavily-misted forests. When Rey and her friends nestled the Millenium Falcon on the landing pit, they were greeted by a crowd of rebels cheering them and throwing their hats for them in congratulations. Poe ran to them and wrapped them all in a great bear hug.

"You defeated Alice Ren! You defeated Alice Ren!" Poe cried out to Rey. She laughed at his excitement before he hugged her and kissed her fully on the lips in extreme joy.

Rey's eyes widened in surprise at Poe's affectionate gesture, but she found herself closing her eyes and leaning into his kiss. Poe's hands gently cupped her face and went round her back. He pressed his lips deeper into hers, opening his lips slightly, tasting her mouth. After a few seconds, Rey finally pulled away, her breath coming in short gasps. She lowered her eyes and refused to meet Poe's gaze, but her cheeks felt hot, and she was painfully aware that the people surrounding them had become silent. A few of them let out surprised wolf whistles and elated chuckles.

Rey looked up to see Rose and Finn staring at her, grinning wildly. Rey glanced up at Poe. He was beaming down at her, his cheeks flushed, but his eyes were filled with joy and desire.

Rey swallowed nervously. "I," she croaked. "I have to report to General Organa. I'll see you," she said, intending to address Finn and Rose, but she found herself being pulled back into Poe's gaze. She tore herself away. The crowd of rebels cheered Rey, and patted her on the back as she made her way into General Organa's office.

The Duke who owned the manor had given General Organa the most beautiful chambers for her office. It directly faced the landing pit, and it had a heavy, large wooden table decorated with intricately sculpted reliefs of animals and flowers, as well as heavy wooden chairs carved with detailed mini sculptures. Communication instruments and other control apparatus crowded the available space. The most beautiful features of the space were its ceiling-high windows of colored glass. Rey looked up at the window art portraying princesses and princes conquering vicious-looking monsters, and even a few Sith warriors. They took her breath away.

She felt General Organa walk to her side and also appreciate their beauty. "My father used to bring me here for his meetings with the Duke," the General confided. She and Rey exchanged smiles. "I might have made out a few times with the prince, who had been my age. Our parents had arranged for us to marry, but my real father, of course, had him killed in the old wars."

Rey could see it in her mind's eye: a beautiful girl in flowing white robes and her hair tied up in two buns at the sides of her head, laughing and running ahead of a tall, ebony-skinned prince, who caught her in his arms and gave her a long, deep kiss. She also saw their fathers: a tall man in Senatorial robes, smiling, and an aged soldier with a black onyx crown on his head, handsome with greying hair, looking at the young couple approvingly.

"I guess we can never be certain about the people we love," Rey murmured. Her lips were still smoldering because of Poe's kiss. His crisp, manly scent lingered on her nostrils, making her dizzy. She fought against the urge to close her eyes at the memory.

"So," the General led Rey to the huge sculpted table, and made her sit on one of the cushioned chairs. They settled comfortably, and the General took Rey's hand in her own. "Tell me what happened to you back in the old base."

Half an hour later after Rey had narrated what happened, the General stared at her with wide-eyed shock. "No rebel has ever defeated two Knights of Ren before. What you've accomplished today, Rey, is unprecedented."

Rey was feeling a little nervous at the solemn glint in the General's eyes. "Is that a good thing?"

The General took a deep breath, as if she was bracing for something unpleasant. "Vittoria Holdo…Alice Ren…you have to understand, Rey, that she is probably the most unstable member of that Sith order."

Rey swallowed nervously.

"Her defeat will compromise her position as High Marshall of the Knights of Ren. To redeem herself, she will have to hunt you down."

"Well, I don't doubt that," Rey answered, remembering Alice Ren's desperate screams of hate. "I think she would burn planets to dust just to find me."

The General sighed heavily and closed her eyes, as if she was attempting to block a memory.

"How do you know so much about her, General?"

"I knew her and her sister before they were corrupted to the Dark Side. Vittoria is relentless. When she learns from Bacchus...Dr. Thanos, rather... about how you mean so much to my son…my dear, just prepare yourself."

Rey was about to deny to the General that she meant anything anymore to Kylo Ren, but the General was looking troubled. "You are genuinely afraid of her?"

"Yes. In one of her assassination missions, she slaughtered an entire city just to find me. When she learned I had escaped, she murdered children…babies… and sent their hearts to me as a message."

Rey's jaw dropped in horror. "What is wrong with her? Was she truly corrupted so much by Snoke?"

"No," the General replied. Her eyes were still closed, shut tight, as if she was in pain. "This is her own doing. She loves my son, in her own dark, twisted way. She is jealous of my hold on his past."

Rey placed her hand on the General's shoulder. The General grasped it almost despairingly, and Rey slipped her arms around the old woman's neck, embracing her, comforting her.

"I will end her if she gets near you," Rey promised General Leia. She had come to love this woman as the mother she never knew. Rey's mind echoed with Kylo Ren's words of her weakness for searching for people to love as her family. Even then, Rey had known that this wasn't a weakness at all, but a source of strength. Her only source of strength, Rey realized. The General, Finn, Rose, the rebels she had come to regard as friends…Poe… It was the first time in so many years that she had never been alone. _And I have never been this strong_ , Rey thought. Her love for them awakened the Force that had lain dormant within her. She was only as powerful as her love for the people she sought to protect.

The next hour was spent reporting about the Millenium Falcon's escape. The General clarified from Rey if the First Order had indeed sent their fleet as reinforcements to Alice Ren's contingent, and Rey said yes.

"She must have gone ahead to confirm Dr. Thanos' intel, but she was able to detect my Force sensitivity."

"That was reckless. But we have her to thank for letting us get away. If the fleet had arrived first, we'd have been obliterated."

Rey reported on the number and descriptions of the ships she had seen. She also told the General that she had been able to detect the Knights of Ren's force signatures on the main ship.

"All of them?"

"I don't know. They were red, and edged with black. Alice Ren said that the spy who escaped from our base, the doctor, was another Knight called Bacchus, but I did not see his aura. They all surrounded Kylo Ren, as if they were protecting him."

"He doesn't need protection, but those knights can't seem to stop rallying around him, sheltering him," the General said. "He was the best of them, but also the most broken. Maybe that was why they just can't help themselves when they are around him."

Rey remembered the kind, blue-haired Medical Officer who had treated her and helped her. The General and Alice Ren had confirmed his real name as Bacchus, that he was a Knight of Ren, a user of the Dark Side of the Force. His Force signature when he was a spy had been warm and caring as he discharged his duties as a doctor. The Force Signatures that she had detected in the First Order Destroyer had been full of menace and the desire to destroy. _Maybe he could conceal his true force signature, just as he effectively stopped my mind from connecting to the Force_ , she thought, remembering the pills that Dr. Thanos gave her. She can never forget his kindness of letting her rest from the constant barrage of sensation and intrusion that her Force Sensitivity wrought on her mind. _And if his Force signature had been among those she detected, he could have easily killed me too when I was still under her care, as well as the hundreds of other patients that he had treated and cared for._ It was hard to reconcile his gentleness with the reputation of the Knights of Ren throughout the galaxy as arbiters of fear and death. And now...the General talked of them as if they were her son's loyal childhood friends. A gang of protectors who might have stayed out of love for their fearsome leader. This made Rey even more curious about the other Knights of Ren she had not yet met or faced in battle.

Poe was in the hallway when she exited the General's chambers minutes later. He was leaning his back against the wall, crossing his arms and staring at the ceiling. He was mumbling, as if he was practicing something to say. Rey placed a hand on his arm, and he stopped and looked down at her, a little flustered.

"If you're looking for the General, she's still inside," Rey told him. "I think she still has a few minutes before she retires for the night." Rey started to walk away, but Poe held her back with a hand on her arm.

"No, actually, Rey," he stammered. "I was waiting for you."

Rey looked up at him. Suddenly she was too aware that she had not showered in the last ten hours, she had not freshened up since she had come down from the Millenium Falcon. Poe was getting close to her, and her skin was becoming overly sensitive to his presence.

"I, um," Poe started, his large doe-like eyes earnestly peering at her. "I want to apologize for what happened back in the landing pit. I realize that it might make things uncomfortable for you, and, well, I'm sorry. I was an idiot."

Rey smiled. "No, please. That kiss was heavenly. That was my first, so, I couldn't really, um," Rey struggled with the right description, "—compare," she finished lamely. Poe's eyes softened, and Rey's breath caught in her throat as they lingered on her lips, the line of her jaw.

"Your first, huh." Poe couldn't help the hint of swagger in his voice. His fingers ghosted across her neck, her shoulder blades. Rey closed her eyes, leaning forward to Poe, who pressed his lips tenderly on her forehead. "Nobody has ever claimed you like that?"

All of a sudden, Rey remembered her last force-bond with Kylo Ren. _I can't beat you._ He had whispered hoarsely on her ear. Rey's body had opened up to him, his muscular body pressing her hips and her parted legs against the column of that castle in Naboo. Rey's back arched against his lips descending down her neck, kissing the swelling curves of her breasts, her own mouth agape in a soundless scream of pleasure. _But I can love you. And when you finally love me back, we will be each other's damnation. You can either be at my side, ruling the galaxy through the dark side of the Force; or be a prisoner of my desire as my beautiful Jedi queen._

Rey placed both her hands on Poe's chest and gently pushed him away. "I…I can't. I'm sorry." She kissed Poe on the cheek and ran away to the Millenium Falcon, searching for her quarters on the ship, her bed, the small bundle of personal things she had taken with her from Jakku. Luke's shattered lightsaber lay on top of her pillow, and Rey cradled it with both her hands. Chewbacca had heard her run up the ship, and moments later, he stood by her door. He moaned softly at her, asking her if she was alright.

"I just need some time on my own, Chewie," Rey answered. "Things are happening so fast, and, I don't really know what to make of them." Chewie sat next to her on the bed and she leaned her head on his furry shoulder.

"Is it that pilot, Poe?" Chewie asked with concern. "I can smash his head for you." Rey laughed.

"No. He's one of the reasons why I have to figure out what's messing me up. He likes me, but he shouldn't."

"Because my god-child is in love with you?"

Rey turned to Chewbacca in shock. "What?"

"Ben. Kylo Sven. Supreme Leader Ren." Chewbacca shrugged dismissively. "I don't know what he calls himself these days."

"You're Kylo Ren's godfather?" Rey almost wailed, but she managed to keep her voice low. It was unbelievable, but of course it wasn't. Chewbacca had been Han Solo's best friend and First Mate for years before Ben Solo had even been born. It made sense that Han Solo would make him the godfather to his only son.

Chewbacca was reminiscing. "I taught him to fly. Shoot. Fight. All the things he needed to be a man." He sighed and bowed his head. "But then, he ended up to be even lesser than that."

"It's not your fault. You and General Organa shouldn't feel any guilt for what he has become."

"Neither should you, child." Chewbacca said. "Are you sure you're going to be alright?"

"Yes. Thank you." Chewbacca patted her head and rose up to exit the door, when he paused and turned back to Rey. "If you need some time away, I can make excuses for you. This planet is beautiful, with lakes, mountains, forests that you can get lost in. You need a break."

Rey stared out of her window, and saw that he was right. Rey was antsy to spend half a day hiking, stretching her legs and filling her lungs with fresh mountain air. She had been cooped up inside enclosed concrete spaces and metal enclosures for too long. She grabbed her kit, gave Chewbacca a quick hug and ran out of the ship.

Rey closed her eyes and inhaled the cold, crisp mountain air as she continued to run, her strong legs taking her farther away from the Resistance Base. When she was several miles away, she slowed down to a walk and came to a river filled with gigantic, blue-tinged tuna jumping and swimming against the current.

She smiled widely at the scene before her, and delighted in figuring out how to cross. There was no bridge in sight, she would have to use the Force to carry herself to the other side. She closed her eyes, and prepared to propel herself above the water.

"That's kinda like cheating, you know," Rose's voice laughed. Rey turned and smiled broadly as she saw Rose and Finn catch up with her, bringing a heavy picnic basket, blankets and other provisions. Behind them, she saw Poe, looking at her hesitantly, lugging two sets of camping tents.

"Hey," he said to her as she walked towards him. "Chewbacca told us that you had gone back to Jakku. General Organa forced him to tell the truth."

Rey laughed, and she took one of the heavy camping tents from him. He bent down to kiss her, Rey blushed and took a step back, startled; Poe smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry," Rey whispered, her heart sinking at the heartbreaking second that genuine hurt flashed in his eyes. "No, it's fine," he started to murmur, but Rey gently held the collar of his jacket with her free hand and pulled him down towards her, shyly pressing her lips against his. _Oh_ , she thought in mild panic. _I hope I know what I'm doing_. Poe's hand slid to her hips, and the other released her grip from the camping kit she was holding, before sliding it up her arm to settle gently on the crook of her neck. Rey shivered under his touch; Poe smiled against her lips at her involuntary response.

The kiss felt like it would go on forever. It was Poe who gently moved his lips against hers, coaxing them to open, Rey gave a low moan, and Poe deepened the kiss, his hands tenderly pulling her body closer. When he drew away, Rey still had her eyes closed. A pink blush stained her cheeks, and her slightly swollen lips let out long, shivery breaths. Poe gazed down at her and thought that he had never seen anyone so beautiful in his entire life.

Rose gave a quick, deliberately loud cough. Rey opened her eyes, remembered that she and Poe were not alone, and pulled away. Poe was grinning at her happily, Rey smiled up into his eyes. For the first time in weeks, Rey felt the deep grooves that her force bond with Kylo Ren had left in her mind vanishing away. The phantoms of Kylo Ren's possessive, intense kisses were being replaced with Poe's smiles and his gentle and shy touch. Poe laced his fingers through Rey's, and Rey held on to his grasp tightly.

"So. Are we going camping or what?" Finn called out. "C'mon!' He and Rose started hiking towards higher ground to find a way to cross the river. Holding hands, Poe and Rey followed them.

Back in the Resistance Base, General Leia and the Rebel officers watched in shock and consternation as Kylo Ren's ink-black command shuttle faded out of stealth mode, folding its wings and descending ominously on the landing pit. The ship had been completely invisible to the Resistance Rebels' radars, and they had only been able to detect it when it was already a few hundred feet away from the base. The rebels rushed out, lining the front of the main gate, armed with laser blasters pointed to the entrance of the shuttle.

"Their shields are still on," Lieutenant Connix informed the Rebel Officers when the door of the shuttle remained closed. An incoming message suddenly beeped on the communication controls, and they were shocked to see that it was coming from the First Order ship. General Leia nodded cautiously, they opened the message and Kylo Ren's masked face came on to their screens.

"Mother," he said. All the Resistance Officers turned to General Leia, but her eyes were still glued to her son's masked face. She gave no answer.

Kylo Ren's voice was thick with anger through his mask. "Where is she?"

 ** _~~End of Chapter Two_**

 _~~~This was hard to write. I'm sorry if I had to insert #damerey in this Chapter, but that kind of attraction was always going to be inevitable, in my opinion (my apologies to Daisy Ridley, who just wanted a platonic relationship with the Resistance's best pilot). Don't worry; the absence of #reylo in this installment will be adequately explained in the next chapter. I will also reveal the owner of the voice which spoke to Rey during her fight with Alice Ren. I kept on updating this because of some errors. I realized too late that Alice Ren forgot to unmask herself before her fight with Rey. Thanks for reading!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Notes ~ So…I changed the rating for this fic because it looks like one can't have an individual rating for each chapter._

 _I like rambling novels and other works of fiction, and I tend to write the same way when not in work. I know it's not a popular style of writing, but hey, this is fanfiction._

 ** _Chapter 3_**

There was an alcove in the First Order command shuttle that Bacchus used as his personal space. The chamber was filled with natural light from a clear glass wall that reflected the ship's surroundings. When not performing his duties, Bacchus spent hours clearing his mind in this room and getting his visual fill of the beauty of the outside world.

He escaped now to this sanctuary the moment the command shuttle entered the Myrra star system. Bacchus took off his mask as soon as he was inside, and swept back his shoulder-length silver hair. His almond-shaped opal eyes gazed hungrily as mounds of white cloud parted to reveal the forests of ancient, towering trees that carpeted his native planet. He held his breath, gazing at the needle-sharp, snow-capped mountain ranges, and the mighty river systems that carved through rock and soil and then gushed out in hundreds of majestic waterfalls.

Bacchus leaned back, resting his tall frame garbed in the inky black leg casings and robes of the Knights of Ren against the black marble column that bordered his window. He crossed his arms, trying to look nonchalant in case anyone entered the room without warning; but deep inside, his emotions were in turmoil. Guilt, regret, grief and heartbreak, and above them all, the keen, intense pain of loneliness and homesickness that almost overwhelmed him. He wished he could stop blinking; he wanted to take the sights of his native planet all in, so that he could go back to them during the long exile that would follow when he would no longer be invited back. He had been happy here. He couldn't control himself from taking off a black glove and placing his hand on the window, as if he could caress the splendor of his family's dukedom beyond the glass. His moment of weakness passed quickly, and he involuntarily glanced around and sighed in relief to see that he was alone in the chamber.

The command shuttle, invisible on stealth mode, was approaching the location of the new Resistance rebel base. Bacchus had kept his bitter smirk under his mask when the Supreme Leader informed him that it was on the seat of his royal house, Château de Éclairage. He remembered that he had been light years away with the Knights of Ren, conquering the acid-storm-plagued planet of Olybaru for the First Order when his dying grandfather gifted the dukedom, the planet and all his wealth to General Organa. It was the perfect base for any rebel seeking to disarm Force Users: Ysalamiri inhabited the forests, the Chateau was built on a foundation of diamond-hard crystals infused with the life force of those Force-neutral creatures, and the blood-bond of the planet and its human natives prevented any action that would destroy the royal house, its castle seat, or any other living creature under its protection. There was to be no killing today, and Bacchus was relieved that the Knights who had gone with him: Leo Souka and Rebecca Holdo were not bloodthirsty war freaks like Alice Ren or even Theo Ren, who could be uncontrollably violent as long as there were no women or children involved. This was a diplomatic mission, and there was nobody better at it than the Spymaster of the Knights of Ren. The Supreme Leader knew that his mother always had a soft side for Bacchus, who, in his true form, looked identical to the murdered crown prince who had been her first love.

The narrow door to the chamber opened, and Bacchus felt the cheery and calm life signature of Leo Souka approach him. Bacchus feigned a bored and lazy stance, his eyes half-closed, his arms folded haphazardly across his high, narrow chest. Leo Souka, garbed in black and unmasked like the Spymaster, smiled affectionately at Bacchus as he took his place across the room. This was the first time that he saw the Spymaster concentrate so fiercely in looking dismissive and unconcerned about a particular mission. The royal house of the Éclairage line of Dukes and Duchesses were the only creatures in the known galaxies who could change their appearance at will; and it highly amused Leo that Bacchus resorted to mere acting to hide what he truly felt.

"How long has it been since you left?" he asked.

"Twenty years or so," Bacchus answered quietly.

"More than a lifetime ago."

Bacchus remembered sunny days of fishing for blue-finned tuna with Ben Solo, flying the Millenium Falcon over the mountain ranges after they made Chewbacca drunk with strong rhum, and clambering up ancient and gnarled fruit trees at dusk, competing at how high they could go, forcing their tiny limbs to climb even higher until they could see the sunset over the royal orchards. Bacchus took a deep breath to clear these memories from his mind.

"It was another life, too."

Leo gazed at Bacchus intently. "She's here. Finally. You've hidden away from her for so long, and yet, here she is. In your family's seat."

Bacchus glared at him, daring him to speak more on this issue. But Leo grinned even wider.

"I have seen her," Bacchus finally snarled. "I was with her only days ago."

"But not like this, in your true form. Wearing the face of—" Leo stopped and put out a hand in a truce as Bacchus shoved off the wall and took a step towards him, his jaw jutting in anger. "That was too far. I apologize, Spymaster."

Bacchus sulked back down against the wall. A pregnant silence ensued between them. "I doubt she would remember me, anyway," Bacchus finally conceded. "I was nine years old. Her son's bosom friend."

Leo shrugged. "But she has heard of you. Thought of you. Probably sensed you, being the Skywalker that she is. You can't deem yourself unworthy now when you are a Knight of Ren."

"We will always be children to her. It doesn't matter how much time has passed." Bacchus sighed, finally laying his head back against the wall, closing his eyes as if in exhaustion. He remembered General Leia's laughter, her immortal beauty, the sadness that passed through her when she thinks nobody is looking, and her yearning for her lost son whenever her eyes rest on the Jedi padawan Rey.

"I have a feeling she is actually looking forward to seeing the man that you are now. Changed. No longer the child who played with her son in the fields."

Bacchus still had his eyes closed. At Leo's words, he was remembering General Organa back in the old Resistance Base: she was always surrounded by people who loved her, looked up to her. She was their Light, and for Bacchus, she was as the point of a compass showing him what he should do, where he should be: by the side of his lifelong brother, her son. Kylo Ren.

Bacchus opened his eyes, and his opal eyes hardened with resolve into a solid grey. "She will always remain the same to me."

Leo Souka chuckled and walked across the room. He briefly laid a hand on Bacchus' shoulder before saying, "We'll be arriving in minutes. The Supreme Leader requests our presence in the Command Bay." Bacchus nodded, immediately put on his mask and followed Leo out of the door.

As expected, Bacchus and the other Knights of Ren sensed a Force-neutral dome enveloping Château de Éclairage and the vast forest and mountain range surrounding it. Bacchus saw the sky-high, emerald towers of the old, crumbling chateau glittering in the sunlight and immediately ordered the troops of clone soldiers inside the command shuttle to get ready. _You will never know with these rebels if there was someone among them who'd like to pay Hero for the Day_ , Bacchus thought. And by the power of his blood, he was the only one who was actually forbidden to initiate violence. But the others did not need to know that.

Rebecca Holdo, unmasked against the Supreme Leader's orders, her bright pink hair flowing in waves in bright contrast to her black garb, slipped into Bacchus' side. She rested her hands imperiously on her slight hips. "Can you sense the Jedi?" she asked. "Well, I know we're in Force-neutral territory. But maybe someone like you can sense living organisms in your kingdom in some other way?"

 _Sharp little hag_ , Bacchus thought, ruefully glancing down at the former crown princess of Wheldon. But there was no way he was going to answer that question forthrightly. When he had followed Leo back to the command bay, he had already searched for Rey by accessing the psychic pathways interconnecting each living thing in this planet. This was a power he possessed because of his lineage as long as he was within the planet, and even in other parts of the universe if he was within range of another native born within the planet's protection.

Bacchus felt this old, ancient power waking up and humming in his veins, demanding to be used, the keening throb of this long-dormant ability turning into an almost searing ache that he could feel to the tips of his fingertips and toes the longer he ignored or refused to use it. Ben Solo had known of this power when they were children, and he kept it a secret all these years, even from his own mother. This was the First Order's leverage in this diplomatic mission that the Supreme Leader specifically assigned to Bacchus. It was foolproof, and it was only a matter of time before they will have their hands again on the Last Jedi.

"Someone like Rey would be enamored of this planet's beauty," Bacchus answered Rebecca. "The General would suggest she goes exploring the rivers with her friends." The words came out mechanically from his lips, as his concentration was already somewhere else.

 _I can see her in my mind's eye, feel her heartbeat in my blood, can see with her eyes as she follows the path of the river with her rebel friends, feel the warm grip of the long, capable fingers of the Resistance pilot she calls Poe holding her hand, be as breathless as she when he kisses her, feel the pilot's hunger for her body and love intensifying, then receding as she draws away, struggling to understand and get rid of her confusion._

Bacchus raised his eyebrows in surprise at this revelation. He wondered what else he could discern from her when he finally gets his feet back on his family's castle. Rebecca Holdo pursed her lips worriedly.

"Poor girl. We should stall for a couple of hours, at least. She has no idea what awaits her back in the base."

Bacchus smiled at Rebecca's uncharacteristic show of concern for a girl she'd never met. "Don't let your sister hear you saying things like that. She is thirsty to peel that Jedi padawan's skin from her bones."

"She was soundly defeated," Rebecca scoffed, rolling her eyes and shaking her head slightly. "She needed that kick in the tits. You and I warned her she shouldn't go ahead. The Supreme Leader said the same thing. Would you know that he hasn't released her yet from the Jedi padawan's forcebind? She is still screaming her head off vowing to eat that girl's heart."

Bacchus laughed quietly.

"And she had the gall to call for reinforcements too," Rebecca complained, her teeth clenching at the humiliation.

"How would you have done things differently?" Bacchus asked.

"I have never underestimated the Jedi, and I never will." Bacchus discerned Rebecca's unspoken thought, loud and clear in his mind _BECAUSE MY AUNT AMILYN TAUGHT ME AS MUCH_. "But I would've blown up that Millenium Falcon and left her to rot alone in that base."

"You wouldn't face her in battle? I've seen her practice. She has no teacher to guide her, but she's highly exceptional," Bacchus said. "I don't think her skill with the Force could be matched by anyone. Well, maybe by Theo, barely; and by our Supreme Leader, most certainly."

"I don't doubt that. I look forward to meeting her," Rebecca answered. She was tilting her head slightly to her side, her eyes softening at what could have been. "If she wasn't Jedi, I think we would've been friends. My sister hates her, and that alone already makes me a lifelong fan." She eyed Bacchus, a knowing smirk curving on her lips. "Wouldn't you agree? You treated her, didn't you? Didn't leave her to die, as Vittoria would have wanted. It looks like your last mission, Spymaster, left your heart broken by two women instead of one."

They stiffened as the prompt for the communication controls beeped to life. It was an incoming message from the Dreadnought. Bacchus held out a hand to stop the controller from opening it, waiting for Rebecca to hastily put on her mask, and when she was done, the image of Kylo Ren filled the screen before them.

"Ready?" Kylo Ren asked Bacchus. "My mother waits for you to discuss terms. She has asked for a truce, in exchange for the Jedi."

"Very good, my Lord." Bacchus could feel Rebecca bite back a mischievous little giggle. Leo turned to her and shook his head slightly in the background.

The moment the Supreme Leader disappeared from their screens, Bacchus couldn't stop himself from yelling at the now-chortling Rebecca Holdo. "COULD YOU!" he hissed, clenching his hands at her as if he wanted to force-choke her. Rebecca laughed even louder. "JUST SHUT UUP!

 _ **Hundreds of leagues away, in the forests of Éclairage...**_

Their trek upriver led them to a majestic waterfall, gushing white, foamy water hundreds of feet from a cliff of bare granite. Finn and Rose became excited at the deep pool at the feet of the falls, and immediately dived in, swimming back to the surface, gasping with laughter.

"Go on," Rey urged Poe, who was already stripping off his jacket and boots, eager to join them. "I'll follow."

Poe made a move to dive into the lake, but suddenly turned, held Rey by her hips and, as Rey screamed in surprise, Poe jumped and pulled her in with him, fully clothed, into the water.

Rey surprised herself by discovering that she knew how to swim. She couldn't remember who had taught her, and when. But she skilfully moved her limbs and hands underwater as she floated with Poe, bubbles of air streaming from their laughing mouths. They rose to the surface with her arms around his shoulders, gasping for breath. They swam back to land, but before they pulled themselves out of the water, Poe took Rey in his arms, pushed her back gently against the edge of the pool, and kissed her.

This was nothing like the kisses they had shared back in the base. Poe's full lips claimed hers with a breathless urgency, and at a slight nudge from Poe's knee on her crotch, Rey opened her thighs and wrapped them around his hips. Poe gave a slight low groan when Rey opened herself to him, and he unconsciously rubbed his loins against hers, his hard erection warm and throbbing through the soaked material of their clothes.

An unwelcome image of Kylo Ren softly kissing her fingers suddenly flashed across Rey's mind. She drew away from Poe's mouth, but he continued to kiss the white, smooth skin of her neck. Sharp, lancing pleasure flared almost painfully underneath the places where Poe's lips touched. She felt his hands impatiently tug at the bindings that covered her breasts, and the lining of the waistband of her trousers. She arched her back, mouth slightly open. Poe's mouth greedily climbed back to her chin, and covered her lips with an open, breathless kiss.

"We have to go back," Rey rasped, in a pause between their kisses as they drew for breath. Poe gazed into her eyes and smiled. He nipped at her lower lip playfully, hungrily, before he helped her out of the water. Rey found Rose and Finn a few feet away. Finn waved happily at her, while Rose gave her and Poe brief, worried glances.

Moments later, Rose took Rey in her confidence and warned her about Poe's "reputation". "He's a serial heartbreaker, you know," Rose said with all seriousness, as she and Rey watched the boys set up the tents. They were cooking the tuna they had caught earlier over an open bonfire.

Rey looked at her friend, and was slightly disturbed at Rose's serious, warning expression."I suppose he would be," Rey conceded. Poe was the Resistance rebels' poster boy; people would of course be lining up to be his lover. Rose words' made Rey think if he was only paying her any attention because she was becoming necessary in the rebellion too.

"I don't think anything serious will come out of this," Rey told Rose. "We've only started being intimate for hours now."

"The important thing is that you feel safe with him. Are you? I mean, it's only been a few hours. But you two have been friends forever."

"Yes," Rey answered. Her kisses and embraces with Poe were pleasant and even intoxicating. If she gave in to the urges between them, Rey decided that she wouldn't mind going all the way. "It'll be okay. Even if he—" Rey paused, blushing and too embarrassed at Rose to go on.

Rose peered at Rey meaningfully. "Goes too fast?" Rey widened her eyes at Rose helplessly. "Just tell him that you're not comfortable with it."

"That's the thing," Rey said, slightly panicking. "I don't know why I am uncomfortable, or what I should be asking for."

Rose blinked at Rey's flushed cheeks and sheepish expression. "No…" she started. "You're not joking." She glanced at Poe in alarm. "You've never been physically intimate with anyone before?" she whispered to Rey in disbelief.

Rey recalled her intense Force-bond kiss with Kylo Ren. If Poe's urgent voice had not cut through her thoughts and severed the connection, the encounter back in that castle in Naboo would have gone beyond her straining open-legged against the Supreme Leader's large, muscular torso.

"No," Rey answered. _Because that was just a dream and nothing ever happened,_ she told herself. And Rey truly felt that her physical intimacy with Poe felt more genuine and heartfelt. He was careful of her, always mindful of her reactions and the pace that she wanted to go.

"I'm…actually just still learning how to kiss. And touch. From Poe."

Rose clenched her fist. "I'm going to beat that smug mug of his," she hissed.

Rey laughed. "No, really. He's never forced himself on me. I just need your advice, because I don't know what to do."

Rose was flattered that Rey was asking for sex advice from her, even though she and Finn had only done it only a couple of times. _Finn had also been my first_ , Rose thought. _We had each been each's other's firsts._ But Rey was looking at her with so much trust and helpless panic that Rose began to blab about the half-hearted intimacy advice that her mother had once given her and her sister so many years ago. Rey listened attentively, and her eyes widened even more. "These are just a few basic things," Rose finished, feeling a little guilty that she had dispensed so much useless nonsense to Rey. "And I'm telling you this only because another woman should be telling you about them, and not learn them from a cocky serial monogamist like Poe."

Rey nodded. "Right." She sat back and stared deeply into the flames of their bonfire. She found herself thinking of what kind of life she'd still have back in Jakku, if she had not rescued BB8 and refused to go with Finn to fight with the Resistance. She wouldn't be a Jedi padawan, a rebel under the command of General Organa, or even have friends like Rose and Finn. She'd have never met Poe, or even Kylo Ren. She wouldn't be in this forest in the most beautiful planet she had ever seen, asking for sex advice from Rose, who was so embarrassed and cagey when she gave it, that Rey half-doubted if her friend knew what she was talking about.

Rey had never felt happier, or more wanted. She wanted this day to go on forever.

"You have to understand the kind of relationship you're having with him, Rey," Rose kept on lecturing. "He knows that he's famous, but he doesn't know his reputation as a notorious rake. Not that he ever tried anything with me, or my sister. But he's living the life of a Resistance rebel. He doesn't mean to hurt anyone but he lives each day to the full as if it was his last, because that's actually true. We are never sure when and how we die. But it is certain to be soon and given to the cause of the Resistance."

"I do understand how that works," Rey said. She smiled at Rose and hugged her tightly. "I will not fall in love with him," Rey promised. "I will not love him that way. But I do cherish what I share with him. I won't cause any drama when it ends. We'll still friends. It will be as before."

She turned one of the tuna in its spit, and examined it if it was cooked. "Is that okay?"

"Looks perfect," Finn laughed, as he comes up behind Rose, kisses her on the forehead and took an almost-cooked tuna from the spit. Rose chased after him, warning him that it's not cooked yet. Poe walked to Rey's side, and quietly told her that their tent has been set up. He sat beside her, taking Rose's place by the bonfire, and started helping Rey turn the spits for the rest of the fish.

"It's been hours since we left the base. I wonder if the General is alright," Rey said.

Poe took something beeping and blinking from his knapsack and showed Rey a portable communicator. "Chewbacca gave me this to track our location. The rebels don't know about it; only the Millenium Falcon registers the signal. If something goes down, the ship will pick us up in no time." He glanced at Rey's worried expression. "And Chewbacca can take care of himself just fine."

"I've been ignoring this nagging feeling at the back of my head that something's wrong," Rey replied, her eyebrows wrinkling with worry. "But maybe I'm just being paranoid."

"They let you go, didn't they, to relax?" Poe gave her a slow, irresistible grin. "So relax."

Rey eyed him, a smile curving at the edges of her mouth. Rose was right. Poe can be alluring, pretty and sexy, when he wanted to be. Confident at the effect he had over women. _Like Kylo Ren_ , Rey thought, with a hint of annoyance. _They seem to be all the same._

"I intend to," Rey answered, avoiding his eyes. "And I'm going to start," -Rey took one of the cooked tuna from the spit and started devouring it- "By beating you in an eating contest," she mumbled through a mouthful of cooked white flesh.

Poe took a deep breath, as if he was mentally preparing himself, his eyes narrowing as Rey cocks an eyebrow at him, challengingly. Then he solemnly took one fat, grilled tuna for each hand. "You're on, Jedi."

"They look good together, don't they?" Finn observed to Rose, as they watched Rey and Poe compete to eat the most sticks of grilled tuna. Poe is losing to Rey, who was already ahead of Poe by ten sticks, and eagerly snatching the barely-cooked fish from the spit. Eventually, Poe gave up, coughing and spewing bits of tuna from his stuffed mouth. Rey crowed, her cheeks bulging with food, pumping her tuna sticks and arms into the air, shaking with laughter.

Rose gave no answer. Finn glanced at her and saw her pensive frown. "Anything wrong?"

"Well," Rose paused, as if she was being careful with what she wants to say. "Poe's…complicated."

Finn's eyebrows shot up and he glared at Poe for a second. "He'll have me to deal with if he tries anything," Finn said.

Rose eyed Finn in exasperation. "Rey can take care of herself. And she said this wasn't a big deal. To her, anyway."

"Well, why not? Poe's awesome. He's a hero of the rebellion. The General loves him like a son, despite everything that he's done." Rose rolled her eyes, and Finn muttered, "Well that's probably what's wrong with him."

"We're rebels, Finn," Rose ruminated. "We could die any time. Emotional attachments can be hard on people like us who wake up everyday, knowing that we could be practice dummies or X Wing targets for heartless Sith lords."

Finn wrapped his arm around Rose, and kissed her on her temples. "Rey's just living for the moment, okay? I've never seen her this relaxed and happy." Rose leaned back down in Finn's arms, and smiled as Rey twitched her arms and hips to a celebratory robot dance to gloat at Poe. "She deserves these moments with Poe for the meanwhile."

"Rey did say that nothing serious will come out of it. Considering Poe's reputation as a man-whore, she has nothing to worry about."

Rose and Finn both watched as Poe tickled Rey on her stomach, she screamed in giggles, and they both fell down to the ground. Finn blinked in surprise at Poe's intensely tender expression as he gazed down at Rey. Then softly, tenderly, he bent down to kiss her. Rey grinned, immediately gave him a smack on his nose and stood up. Rose and Finn exchanged identical looks of worry and surprise at the brief, heartbroken expression on Poe's face.

"Dinner!" Rey called out to them, waving her hand as she and Poe begin arranging the grilled tuna on paper plates. "Or do we save these for the porgs?"

By nightfall, Rey asked Poe which of the two tents was their own. The pilot blushed and answered that it was the one closest to the forest. Rey smiled up at him and went inside, but before Poe could follow her, Rose yanked him by the collar of his jacket and pulled him back outside. She started berating him about taking it too fast with Rey.

"Didn't she tell you she's never been intimate with anyone before?" Rose whispered furiously. "She did, but—" Poe was cut off by Rose's angry cursing. He paled at seeing the murderous look in Finn's eyes as he crossed his arms and glowered at him.

Inside the tent, Rey listened to Rose's angry scoldings and chuckled. She took out the mirror that Rose had lent her and looked at her reflection for the first time in many weeks. The last time she had looked at herself had been in the mystical cave in Ach-to, where the Dark Side of the Force showed her multiple reflections of herself in her quest to find out who her parents were.

 _This is me now_ , Rey tells herself. She released the ponytails that bound her hair and combed it with her fingers.

Rey remembered what Poe had said to her when they had been brainstorming their honeypot-plot to capture Kylo Ren.

 _"You look fine. Just wipe that dirt off your face."_

 _"You have a beauty mole near the curve of your cleavage. Flaunt it."_

Rey opened the first four buttons of her standard Resistance Mechanic's shirt and gazed at the deep valley between her breasts. Peeking near the swell of her left breast was a dark pink beauty mole. Rey inhaled nervously, and the swelling mounds of her breasts rose and fell with each breath.

"Alright, alright!" Rey heard Poe's muffled and impatient voice trying to quiet down Rose's shouting. "Rose, please. And I know all that already, Finn. I'm not going to hurt her."

Rey paused and stood still near the entrance of their tent, listening to her friends. "I like her." Rey smiled at Poe's soft words. "I'm thinking of giving her my mother's ring." Rose gasped, and as Rey tried to remember the little gossip she'd heard about Poe's infamous necklace ring, she suddenly felt an abrupt cutting off of her sensory reception, a pause that felt like the entire planet was holding its breath.

Rey immediately felt that she was in danger. She shouted Poe's name to warn him, and she was suddenly thrown into a bottomless, sucking darkness. In her mind's eye, she saw the black and blood-red Throne Room of the First Order. Kylo Ren sat masked on the throne, his head tilted to the side as if he was listening.

Rey exhaled sharply in shock, and Kylo Ren immediately raised his head to her, and looked directly into her eyes. Rey saw four tall figures surrounding the throne, attired in black, and they also turned to her.

"Found you," Kylo Ren spoke through the mask.

Rey waved her arm and tried to thrust a blow of the Force towards him, but nothing happened. The Knight at the left side of Kylo Ren raised his arm towards Rey, and she immediately felt a blast of energy pulling her, folding the fabric of space and time, squeezing her through a single point. Rey screamed as a million pinpricks of stabbing pain filled every pore and molecule of her body. In a fraction of a second, it was all over, and she was suddenly whole again, landing against a hard black surface, gasping and wheezing for breath. A paralyzing cold rushed through her limbs, her eyesight was gone and she found herself seizing uncontrollably, her senses and her mind in complete shock at what had just happened.

She registered footsteps running towards her, someone falling to his knees, wrapping muscular arms around her body, and cradling her close to his chest. She was still shaking when she felt Kylo Ren's unmasked face on the crook of her neck, whispering over and over that she was safe, that she was going to be alright, that he was going to take care of her. "Open your eyes, Rey. Please," he pleaded softly, his arms and his sweet breath warming her. She looked up at him, the foggy darkness that had invaded her eyesight cleared, and she saw Kylo Ren's pale, anxious face. He sighed in relief and kissed her on her forehead.

"Her entire body is in shock, my Lord, from the effects of the tesseract," a grave voice spoke beside him. Kylo Ren bared his teeth and immediately glared at Bacchus in rage, but he calmed down when he felt Leo's hand on his shoulder. _Bacchus is right_ , he acknowledged. And he had been the one who ordered Bacchus to kidnap Rey through that intensely risky life-threatening spell. Kylo Ren rose up and carried Rey in his arms, his eyes never leaving her face.

Rey saw that the Knights of Ren had gathered around her, following their Supreme Leader, craning their heads to see if she was alright. She gazed at the slender knight to whom Kylo Ren had directed his rage, and he immediately pulled off his mask, revealing an unfamiliar ebony-skinned face with silver hair and intensely concerned and guilty opal-grey eyes.

Rey watched in horror as his figures quivered and transformed into that of Dr. Thanos: blue eyes, pale creamy skin, blue hair and eyebrows.

"Remember me, my lady?" the Knight said in Dr. Thanos' voice.

A roiling, sour wave rushed up Rey's throat, her body lurched forwards and she vomited straight into Bacchus' inky-black robes. Kylo Ren made an impatient noise and immediately carried Rey out of the Throne Room. Rey passed out of consciousness to the deep-bellied peals of a woman laughing uncontrollably, and Bacchus commanding one of the other Knights to send in the cleaners.

...

Several nights later, Rey opened her eyes to a dimly-lit room. The sheets felt smooth and white under her cheek, and she realized that she had been sleeping on her stomach. She sat up and realized that everything was quiet and still. The engines of the First Order's ship, which Bacchus and the others named "Imperium", were silenced of their barely-inaudible mechanical hum. Rey imagined the entire ship floating in the infinite inky darkness of space, lit by distant stars and swirling luminous gases, completely abandoned by its crew and the Knights of Ren.

She couldn't tell if it truly was. Bacchus had informed her that her chambers were surrounded by Ysalamiri life crystals that created a force-neutral dome. She was blocked from the Force, prevented from sensing her surroundings, but also shielded from the powers of the Knights of Ren. From the way Bacchus had informed her of this, he thought that he was doing her a favor, but Rey felt ambivalent about this. Since she had opened her mind to the Force, she had been inundated with waves of sensations from her surroundings that sapped her energy and concentration even in the most mundane tasks. Her most recent period of captivity had been the first time Rey felt that her mind was completely her own since that evening in the Resistance base when Bacchus, who'd been disguised as the rebels' Medical Officer, chemically drugged her brain from connecting to the Force.

Nevertheless, Rey had been captured by the Order of Ren unarmed. Her only weapon and means of escape was her power over the Force. Without it, Rey could not sense life signatures, could not control the energy around her, could not control the minds of the clone soldiers whom she imagined guarded her door. She had tried to test her skills in other parts of the ship, but she was always accompanied by Rebecca, Bacchus or one of the Souka twins, and her attempts had been futile. Rebecca had cheerfully showed her a small Ysalamiri crystal that had been assigned to each of them if they would escort her. Rey became the complete prisoner of the First Order, of Kylo Ren and his order of immensely powerful Sith knights.

They called her "the last Jedi", in varying degrees of awe and wary cheerfulness. They had stayed and fought with Kylo Ren for more than a decade, and Rey remembered how General Organa even thought of them more as her son's childhood friends than dreaded Sith Lords.

Rey remembered the cheerful but deadly Souka twins, Leo and Marcus, who were curious about her power and generous with their time and knowledge in training with her. They were extremely young-looking, although they were of the same age as their Supreme Leader Kylo Ren. When unmasked, they looked like young scholars with their tousled dark forest-green hair, red cheeks and jutting Adam's apples. Rey found herself relaxing with them: the brothers cracked jokes, laughed at the ones she shared, even those which she considered lame and unfunny, and clearly enjoyed talking with her about her life back in Jakku and her friendship with the rebels. The brothers' easygoing personality made her miss Finn, Rose and Poe.

The Souka twins were the complete opposites of the only female Knights of Ren: the Holdo sisters, who were younger than the twins by five years, but moved and treated others with a haughty aristocratic pride and expectation of utter obedience. Rey had not met Vittoria again since their duel in the old Resistance base. She was happy for this and had expected hostility from the younger sister, Rebecca, but the pink-haired, amethyst-eyed former crown princess showed nothing but awe and an unnerving reverence to Rey. She was taller by a foot, but Rebecca bent down and gossiped with Rey constantly, telling her about the histories of each Knight and her life back in Wheldon before she'd become a Knight. Rebecca called Rey "Your Majesty", referencing her position vis-à-vis the Supreme Leader Ren. When Rey had asked her about this, Rebecca answered with a beautiful, secretive smile that Kylo Ren had told the First Order that he intended to make Rey his queen someday, regardless of whether she could be turned to the Light or Dark. Rey suspected that Rebecca was friendly to her only because she had defeated her sister and humiliated her to the Knights. Rebecca's aura turned red, sour and angry whenever Rey asked about Vittoria. Clearly, she had not turned or stayed with the Knights of Ren out of love for her sister.

Rebecca had been the one who stayed with Rey as she recovered her strength and her health after having gone through what the Knights called the "tesseract". Rebecca explained that only Bacchus had that particular power in the Order, and it only worked for someone like him who possessed the royal blood of the Éclairage line of dukes and duchesses if they seek to control a living organism under his family's protection. Bacchus' grandfather had gifted their kingdom to General Organa, but powers of his bloodline remained potent until they were passed on to younglings of their family. Being the only heir, Bacchus was still very much the most powerful and skilled member of the royal line. General Organa had given protection to Rey while she stayed in Myrra; and that meant that Bacchus could sense, control and summon her too.

"The General had to withdraw the protection she gave you while you stayed in Bacchus' dukedom," Rebecca explained. "Or the Supreme Leader would have obliterated that lush little planet from the face of the galaxy."

Rey shook her head, still unable to understand. "We were in a Force-neutral system. General Organa informed us that the Knights of Ren will never be able to use their powers against us or the Resistance rebels as long as we were under her protection as the new ruler."

Rebecca smiled and shrugged. "There are other energies, other powers that bind the universe. The Force is one of them, and it is the most powerful, the most used. But for ancient families like Éclairages, they can bind other supernatural strengths by their blood."

Rey found it strange that she and the Knights of Ren were becoming friends. Rey decided that these warriors and former royalty probably didn't have any chums of their own age or rank while under the service of the First Order, and they all found a comfortable pleasure in keeping Rey company.

Rey's mind turned back to the day she had first met Rebecca Holdo. She wondered which part of that encounter had convinced the female Knight that Rey, who came from nothing and was the daughter of nobody, was worthy of her companionship.

It had been on that first night after her kidnapping. The moment Rey woke up in the Medical Bay of the ship, she immediately saw the pink-haired female Knight of Ren seated beside her. Rey instantly raised her arm to direct a Force wave, but both her arms were firmly restrained by secure metal holds. Rey charged a Force wave at her with her mind, but the female Knight shut her eyes and raised an arm to block Rey's attack with a pulsing wave of her own. The force of their energies rebounded on the walls of the room, causing the glass cabinets across the Medical Bay to shatter. Rey glared at the pink-haired Knight as if expecting a blow, but she slowly opened her eyes and gave Rey an admiring smile. It was then that Rey noticed her identical facial features to another female Knight, Vittoria. Rey stiffened defensively.

"I can see now why they both like you," the pink-haired Knight said to her. Her amethyst eyes traveled appreciatively on Rey's face, her slender neck, her heavily breathing chest. They rested on Rey's exposed cleavage, and upon seeing her beauty mole, her eyes snapped back into Rey's, as if she had just learned a secret. "My name is Rebecca Holdo," she said. "Well, Rebecca Ren, officially. Like Theo and Bacchus, I'm not into kinky nicknames."

Rey gave no answer. Rebecca continued looking at her affectionately. "You've met my sister, Vittoria. You've made quite an impression on her. Even now, she is still baying for your blood."

"Please release me," Rey pleaded. She could see in Rebecca's life signature a radiating warmth, kindness and a genuine concern for her well-being, and she thought that she could turn to that for her release, even though Rey could also sense deeply-seated, festering roots of regret and guilt. Rebecca Ren had done dark and grievous sins in her past: through outside compulsion, a series of desperate choices and her own corrupted free will. Rey discerned that she had conquered it all through sheer force of character. Rebecca Ren simply refused to let her darkness overwhelm her. Her purpose was clear and unequivocal: to serve the purposes of the Supreme Leader and the Knights of Ren, and that overtook all impulses towards generosity or mercy.

"No doubt it would be the right thing to do," Rebecca Ren answered. 'But all of us in the Order are immensely curious of you. Your Power. Your hold on our Supreme Leader. And yes, oh yes, your beauty." Rebecca purred. "It is a delightful surprise indeed that you are actually such a delectable little thing. Nobody would have known that a wasteland like Jakku could have hidden such a rose."

Rey held her gaze, and felt confused that Rebecca Ren was genuinely happy that they had finally met. This encounter felt out of place. Rebecca Ren talked to her as if they were long-time friends, as if Rey wasn't bodily restrained after being kidnapped from the tent that she had been about to share with Poe.

 _Oh no._

Rey gasped in shock as she remembered her friends back in the forest of Myrra. "Please," Rey begged. "The rebels. General Leia. Tell me what happened to them."

Rebecca leaned back on her chair and crossed her long legs. "There was a truce," she answered. She looked at Rey levelly, her eyes hardening. "How does it go again? 'We are the flame that will light the fire that will burn the First Order down.'" Rebecca smirked, but the smile did not reach her eyes. "My aunt's words. General Leia chose to honor them by giving you up."

"And my friends?"

"Safe. For as long as the truce lasts. The Supreme Leader gave them a week's head start to leave Bacchus' home planet if they didn't wish the Myrra Star System to be annihilated to dust."

Rey closed her eyes and mentally nodded. She hoped that her friends would have the good sense not to mount a rescue operation. Not until she could be strong enough to defeat the Knights of Ren.

"What are you thinking of?" Rebecca asked. "Aren't you disappointed that they didn't put up any resistance to your capture?"

"General Leia knows that I am willing to risk my life for the Resistance. So does my friends. They will carry on without me."

Rebecca tilted her head as she gazed at Rey curiously. "Oh, but you will be turned to our side. The Knights are sure of it, and I know you will. You are just like my sister. You will succumb out of your love for our Supreme Leader."

"I am not evil like your sister," Rey hissed.

Rebecca waited for Rey to add to what she said, and when it didn't come, she grinned widely.

"You know, our Spymaster Bacchus was our Supreme Leader's oldest friend. He was the first of us who joined the Knights of Ren. He didn't hesitate when the Supreme Leader asked him to be his second in command, to be our Spymaster, archivist and healer. To give his life and everything he had in his service."

"He was kind to me and my friends," Rey said. "Of course, it had all been an act. A web of lies."

"Oh no," Rebecca interrupted. "He genuinely is a good person. Even now, he has compassion for others, and that will always be a part of him. But, My Queen, he is a Knight of Ren. He became one for our Supreme Leader, who was his brother in all things except by blood since their cradles were laid side by side in Château de Éclairage. Out of love, Bacchus committed, ordered and strategized the mass murder, genocide and conquest of entire civilizations, races, and star systems. He is as ruthless, cruel, heartless and evil as any one of us Knights. And he didn't do it for avarice, greed, or revenge. It was only simply because he loved and couldn't bear to leave the man he once called Ben Solo." Rebecca smiled at Rey. "That will be your fate. It may not take such a short and violent route as my sister's journey when she thought that her lust was equal to loving a man who will never love her back. But you will succumb. You will find yourself doing things for him that you never imagined committing when you were a Resistance rebel."

"You Sith Lords," Rey whispered. "You underestimate me if you think I will be swayed so easily by that monster."

"Oh but Your Majesty," Rebecca laughed heartily, with a little curve of her mouth that indicated she pitied Rey a little. "You never really know that you have loved someone until it is too late. And our Supreme Leader had already taken hold of your heart long before you knew how to resist him."

And to that, Rey simply had no reply, other than a retreat into shocked silence.

Rey still had to meet Theo, whom Rebecca had described as the strongest among them, even stronger than their Supreme Leader. He had been their teacher alongside Luke Skywalker before he had disappeared for several years to look for his family. When he discovered that they'd died in a transport ship blown up by Resistance vigilantes, Theo turned to the Dark Side and became an ordained Knight of Ren. After Vittoria's disgrace, Theo became the High Marshall, and he had been on surveying missions to re-establish their hold on the star systems under the First Order's control when Rey was captured. He was Kylo Ren's bodyguard when not on missions, and Rebecca told Rey with softened eyes full of admiration that he was the only Knight of Ren who did not hurt or injure women and children, even those who were rebels or Jedi.

Kylo Ren avoided meeting her. She had been his captive for more than a week, and spent her days training with his knights and being educated by Bacchus about the ways of the Force, but the Supreme Leader was always away, utterly confident in the ability of his childhood friends to prevent her escape or to protect her from any rescue attempt. Rey spent most of her nights in a kind of vigil, expecting him to visit her in her chambers, planning how she could defeat him and the routes she could take through the labyrinthine hallways of the ship towards the aircraft hangar where she could finally use her powers to force someone to give her a ship. But Kylo Ren never came. Rey succumbed to sleep night after night, after being on the edge for hours, nervously waiting for the door to her chambers to open. Rey wondered if this night would be any different.

The lights in her chambers dimmed, and finally blacked out. Rey expected complete darkness, but her window was illuminated with the view of a distant swirling galaxy. Rey placed her hand on the window, her breath caught in her throat as her eyes hungrily took in the beauty of the sight before her. Her breath misted on the glass; all of a sudden, she was overtaken by the realization that she was utterly and completely alone.

Rey felt that he could have watch this beautiful scene for hours, sitting alone on the floor in the half-darkness, wrapped cozily in furs from her bed. But then she sensed a presence approaching outside her door, hesitating, unsure of whether to come in or not.

She heard the soft swish of her chambers door opening and closing. Rey remained still and she tried to keep her breath steady and even, but she did not need to turn around to see who had entered. She felt him walk towards her soundlessly. She closed her eyes; she did not want to see him reflected on the glass: tall, slender and robed in black, his pale face feral, those black hooded eyes gazing down at her. She felt him stop behind her, felt his breath ghosting the strands of her hair.

Her body itched to initiate the fight-and-escape scenarios she had envisioned and practiced so many times in her head. This was the moment she had been waiting for for days. It was now or never.

She put both her hands on the glass before her as leverage and placed all her strength in hitting her head to his. He evaded, locked his arms around her to prevent movement, but she jumped and sprung from both her legs planted on the window. They fell down, Kylo Ren momentarily lost the strength of his grip as they both fell down on his back, and Rey turned around on his arms and straddled him. She moved to punch his throat, but he caught her wrist, she clutched his hair with her other hand and pulled with all her might, he grunted in frustration and swiped her palm before he rose and pushed her to the floor, her back slamming against the hard surface and momentarily leaving her breathless, her legs parted and open under his massive torso. He locked her arms above her head, she screamed angrily and tried to release her arms from his grip, but he crossed her wrists with one hand and slammed them on the floor. Rey yelped in pain. Her thighs trashed at the sides of his hips as she tried to push a space between their bodies with her knees to push him away, but he pushed the majority of his weight harder against her hips, and pinned her down. His head was too far way for her to hit him with another head butt; he rose on his free elbow and looked down at her, breathing slightly heavily.

"Are you finished?" His voice was low. He glared down at her, half in fury, half in hunger. Rey closed her eyes and laid down her head against the floor. She knew that she was defeated, for now, and the safest course of action now would be to wait for her chances in some other day.

"I want us to talk," Kylo Ren said. His breath felt like a hot kiss on her chin. His closeness disturbed her, and Rey concentrated with all her might in denying the keen ripples of pleasure that spread through from her parted thighs pinned under his torso.

"I…" he started. "I'm sorry for abducting you from your friends. From my mother. They love you and miss you still. But I simply cannot hand them back to you."

Images of Finn, Rose and General Leia flickered through Rey's thoughts. A memory of Poe laughing as a flying tuna smacked Rey in her face with its fin nearly brought her to tears. They had been trying to catch their dinner back in the Myrran forest where they had been camping with Finn and Rose. After the migrating fish escaped back to the river and Rey tried to wash off the taste of fish from her tongue, Poe had bent down and tenderly kissed her. Tuna taste and all.

 _I will see them again_ , Rey decided. _No matter how long it takes. No matter what it takes._

Rey turned her face to the side and closed her eyes. "I won't escape," she answered. "But please let me go."

Kylo Ren released her and stood up. He offered her his hand, but she refused and stood up on her own. She refused to meet his eyes. Despite her most recent resolve and the memories of her friends crowding her mind, her body betrayed her. There was a flare of need that thrummed inside her from his closeness. She wanted to slam his body against the glass of the window and rake her teeth against the pale, sweat-cooled skin of his neck.

Kylo Ren leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, gazing at her. Rey backed away carefully in the near darkness until she could feel the edge of her bed at the back of her knees. She sat down, carefully. She closed her thighs and locked her ankles; but the throbbing wetness between her thighs continued to flood the thin cotton fabric of her underwear and pajama bottoms. Squeezing her thighs tight only increased the friction on her swollen sex.

He wanted to talk. _So talk_ , Rey thought. _Talking will help me rein in this…lust_. Rey gritted her teeth against this realization. She waited, but Kylo Ren brooded and continued to look at her.

"Your friends have threatened to burn down each one of my bases and ships until they found you," he finally spoke.

"They can be very convincing," Rey answered.

"This pilot…Commander Poe Dameron. What is he to you?" Kylo Ren's voice sounded forcibly dismissive, but there was an edge of anger to his words, possessive, unwilling to share.

"We're friends. Like Finn and Rose are to me."

"He didn't sound like one of your friends when he vowed to kill me if you were hurt."

Rey raised an eyebrow at him. "And you're jealous?"

Kylo Ren glowered at her. "Why would you think I'd be?"

"Someone like you wouldn't spare a thought for him. So why now?"

"He's been leading attacks on our bases. Foolhardy, suicidal. I doubt my mother had any hand in these, but even against our defenses, he seems to be winning. If Theo wasn't having a hard time finding him and killing him, I wouldn't have bothered. And now I received information that he has been promoted second-in-command. Theo has vowed to end him and bring his body to me in pieces. But he's a pest. Nobody like the other rebel commanders I've killed and made examples of in the past." A tic in his jaw betrayed him, and Kylo Ren struggled to keep his voice even. "My mother-General Organa. She seems to think that you are together with him. That he's the one you deserve."

Rey strove to keep her mind blank, tried to clamp down surge of feelings that welled up inside her at the mention of General Organa and Poe.

"I don't need to be rescued," Rey answered. "I don't need Poe's help. If he's giving you and your Knights a hard time, it is because he is faithful to the cause of the Resistance. I have been a liability to the rebels since that moment you came to our base through our Force bond. If I'm not there, they can never be traced again. The best thing that can ever happen to my friends is that I don't return for you and your Knights to locate."

Kylo Ren's eyes glinted at her words. "So you're not leaving."

"I didn't say that."

"You won't be returning to him."

Rey didn't answer him and instead looked up at Kylo Ren as he shoved himself from the wall and came to her. Unconsciously, she rested her hands on her mattress, as if preparing to pounce on him or punch him, but kept her thighs closed and ankles crossed. Kylo Ren kneeled in front of her, as if he was worshipping her, and rested his hand on her foot.

Slowly, he bent down and trailed soft kisses on her bare toes, and along the delicate arch of her foot. Against the warning bells sounding in her mind, Rey closed her eyes for a blissful second as Kylo Ren's lips and fingers softly uncrossed Rey's ankles and trailed up her calves, stopping at the back of her knees. Rey's fingers were now gripping her sheets tightly. Kylo Ren's eyes had been closed as he caressed and kissed her lower legs, and they opened and gazed at her intensely as he gently nudged her thighs open. Rey's breath was coming out in long, shivery gasps. She roughly shoved her fingers through his hair; she tried to push him back, but he bit and sucked on the soft, creamy skin of her lower thigh. She let out a cry and tugged at his hair, clutching the strands close at the scalp. Kylo Ren roughly dug his fingers on her buttocks, neither of them caring if it would cause bruises later, and suddenly yanked her closer.

Kylo Ren opened her legs, and though these were still encased in loose cotton pyjamas, the scent of her feminine juices soaking through the cloth caused him to grip her knees and push her thighs to the side. He savagely kissed her vagina through the cloth, Rey had by now leaned down and she arched her back, supporting her weight on her elbows.

"Go on," Kylo Ren growled softly along the insides of her thighs. "Tell me to stop."

"I will kill you," Rey gasped as Kylo Ren opened his lips on her sex and started sucking her clitoris through the cloth. "You are dead if you think you can claim me like this."

"But I will. And this will not end when you want it, how you want it," Kylo Ren murmured. The fingers of his right hand teased at the waistband of her pyjama bottoms, while his left hand slipped inside her shirt and caressed her stomach, tracing the edges of the mounds of her breasts. "I will take my time with you," he whispered, "All night, slowly, if I have to." His fingers slipped off her pyjamas and underwear, and roughly folded her thighs to the sides, exposing the wet, sopping folds of her sex. His mouth immediately covered them, his tongue flicked along the entire length of her opening and Kylo Ren sucked gently when he reached her clitoris. Rey's hips twitched as an intense wave of pleasure shattered her senses, hard; she arched as the muscles of her sex quivered violently against Kylo Ren's lips and tongue. He sucked and licked as the first orgasm that Rey had ever had pumped her feminine juices into his mouth: Kylo Ren sipped it thick, creamy, and reeking of her sweet feminine musk. It seemed forever before the waves of pleasure receded, leaving Rey weak and sated, her limbs drained of their strength. She breathed hard as Kylo Ren climbed over her and gazed down at her face. He was smiling tenderly and possessively. He bent down and closed his eyes as he kissed her scalp, her cheekbones, her lips.

"You bastard," Rey whispered, looking at him through half-closed eyelids. Her hips bucked as Kylo Ren's fingers reached down and caressed her crotch again. A moan escaped her lips as she felt a long finger slip deeply inside her, and Kylo Ren couldn't control a guttural groan of his own as the impossibly soft walls of Rey's untried vagina clenched him, quivering with a wet, tight heat. Rey felt the urge to resist, to fight back. Shove Kylo Ren away, struggle to her feet and hit him with all her strength. But she was weak with desire, utterly helpless at the waves of want that had started building again inside her. She glared at him with murderous hate. He smirked, knowing that he had her completely under his control, his dark eyes fully dilating with a darkening passion.

"I'm only just starting, my Queen," Kylo Ren breathed, laughing softly against her thighs, and when Rey felt his lips on her clitoris again, she groaned as if she was in pain and finally blacked out from the intense pleasure.

Hour later, Rey jerked awake, raising herself on her elbows. She squinted against the gentle light that flooded her room. The ship was moving again, the soft hum of the engines melding into the background. Her window showed a beautiful star system of ringed planets orbiting a gentle sun emanating white cooling light. She heard distant sounds of clone soldiers marching outside her door, the elegant, clipped voice of Captain Phasma issuing instructions over the ship's intercom. Rey was completely alone in her chambers. She also realized that she was still fully clothed under the sheets with a new pair of pyjamas that she couldn't remember putting on. Her thighs and crotch felt bruised and her pyjama bottoms were silky and damp with a wetness that still trickled from her folds.

It had all felt like a dream: her hours in the dark with Kylo Ren as he gave her pleasure, devouring her sex, making her reach orgasm after orgasm with just his fingers, his tongue and his lips. He had been gentle with her, never giving way to his own pleasure, never taking his clothes off, although the streams of cum that flowed from her had dripped down his chin, his neck and his shirt.

Rey waited to feel self-loathing and disgust for her night alone with Kylo Ren, but all she felt was a keen lance of pleasure shooting from her loins as she remembered him softly kissing her, his long, callused fingers gently massaging her back and her hips after another intense orgasm that left her weakened in half-pleasure and half-shock.

 _This is all a dream_ , she decided. It was unthinkable that he would do all those things to her and never demand his own release _. This will all be forgotten, then. Last night never happened_. Rey squeezed her eyes shut, forcing herself to erase the memory of his lips on her skin, his dark eyes that never left her face as she moaned and screamed his name.

Somewhere in the ship, Kylo Ren suddenly stopped as he was on his way to the Throne Room. His companions Bacchus and Leo Souka immediately drew their weapons for a possible assault, but Kylo Ren raised his hand, ordering them to desist. He tilted his head as his mind picked up on Rey's decision to dismiss the night they had spent together as a dream. He smiled widely under his mask. He immediately ordered Bacchus to check on potency of the Ysalamiri life crystals, telling him that Rey's thoughts were pushing through the walls of the force-neutral dome and reconnecting with their Force bond.

Millions of light years away, Himari Souka's third eye opened, the sudden pain causing her to gasp and clench her teeth. The wound on her forehead leaked black blood that trickled down her forehead to the healed scars of her empty and blackened eye-sockets. After countless hours of meditation and searching the Force for Rey's life signature, it had finally shown her the location of Kylo Ren's Dreadnought where he held the last Jedi captive. She was thankful that the person who had requested for her help was not Force-sensitive nor a user of the Force. Himari thought that he would find it difficult to accept Rey's situation as Kylo Ren's prisoner. She felt a wave of sadness and sympathy for Poe Dameron, who had loaned her his mother's ring. This simple wedding band was meant to be given to the person whom the pilot chose to be his life partner, and Poe had chosen Rey. He had given it to Himari with the high hopes that the ring would help the hermit find Rey's location.

 _He will never know_ , Himari promised Rey. _And he doesn't deserve this heartbreak._ She rose on her feet, closing her fist on Poe's ring, and trudged back to the castle of Sigurn Halsey. The blonde knight and her precocious twin children had been waiting for Himari to come out of her Force search. They, and the rebels who had been their guests for the past two days, will be thrilled that she finally had news to give.

 _ ******End of Chapter Three**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter Four**_

Alone in the rebels' vast Command Room in Chateau du Eclairage, General Leia gazed at the blue-violet orb of a rare blood moon illuminating a cloudless night sky. It had already been three hours after her negotiations with Bacchus ended. She recalled the Knight of Ren's intense silver eyes gazing into hers as he bent down and kissed her hand goodbye. His secretive, soft smile. The unsettling way he made her feel like both of them were the only two people in a room, or the entire base…the entire planet. Leia thought that she could never stare him down, but years of experience in politics and sheer strength of will held their sway over the riotous temptation to look away first. She had been there when his mother, the Queen of Myrra, had given birth to him, dammit. She was his mother's bosom sister, his superior in rank and age. She was not going to be defeated by her son's oldest friend, one whom she had seen in diapers, taking his first steps and running through the castle with her son when they were both barely five years old.

 _He's always been a troublemaker_ , Leia thought grimly. As dusk banished the last traces of light from the horizon, Leia had gazed at the black silhouette of the First Order's command shuttle fading into the clouds when it left the planet's atmosphere. She had severely underestimated the Knights of Ren, now freed from the influence of the Sith Lord Snoke. It was her greatest mistake to think, even subconsciously, that they were still children. General Leia felt physically weakened by the fear and guilt clutching her heart at what she had just agreed for the price of a truce.

The communicator on the heavy wooden table beeped, and Lieutenant Connix's voice informed her in a low voice that the Millenium Falcon had returned from its errand of fetching Poe, Finn and Rose from the forests. General Leia rose from her seat in the conference table of the Command Room; seconds later, she heard footsteps and shouting outside her chambers. The door burst open, and Poe rushed to her, pale and his black eyes frantic with worry. Finn and Rose followed him, their faces streaked with fear and mirroring Poe's trepidation.

General Leia put up her hand to them to let their catch their breaths. All three of them were gulping for air and breathing heavily, as if they had run straight from the ship immediately to go to her chambers.

"Rey is safe," she said, when all three of them opened their mouths simultaneously to speak. They gaped at her in shock.

"General, the First Order has kidnapped her!" Rose pleaded. 'We didn't know how. But she warned us, and then we felt this great rushing of air, and suddenly she was gone!"

"We have to go save her!" Finn shouted urgently. "She was alone, unarmed. She can't face them by herself."

Poe remained silent, his eyes never leaving the Leia's face. General Leia gave them a stern, resigned look, and it then dawned on him what had just been done. He let out a little, shocked outtake of breath. The General eyed him levelly, refusing to blanch at the accusatory glare hardening Poe's eyes.

"Poe, listen to me. All of you. We were unprepared, and I had severely under estimated their power over this planet. We had no choice but to give them Rey in exchange for a week's truce to allow us to leave. I sincerely apologize for this." Rose and Finn bowed their heads sadly, but Poe continued to glare at her. "Bacchus, the Knight of Order's Spymaster, has assured me of her safety, Poe," Leia addressed him. "She will not be harmed."

"You have given them exactly what they wanted from us," Poe snarled, his lips curling with outrage. "She was our one hope of defeating them. The last Jedi."

"And you should remember what that actually means, Captain," General Leia reminded him. "She is trained in the ways of the Force. She is stronger than any of us, and she can carry on her fight without our help. We have to move on with our own struggle as the last of the Resistance."

Poe turned away from her and violently swung his leg, kicking a heavy wooden chair across the room. He propped a hand on his hip and covered his eyes with his other palm. Rose and Finn went to him and placed their hands on his shoulders.

"We should trust the General on this, Poe," said Rose, but her voice betrayed a heartbreaking note of uncertainty.

"Nobody would have surrendered Luke Skywalker to them this easily," Poe growled. "But then she is nothing to anyone. She was not a Skywalker, royalty or some officer's daughter. Am I not right, General?"

General Leia sat down on the nearest chair and silently took the brunt of Poe's anger. Memories of the old Rebellion when she and Han Solo congratulated Luke after their victories flooded in, and she closed her eyes against them. She was suddenly feeling old and weary, but she steeled herself against the temptation to pull rank and to dismiss these three friends who had come to love and cherish Rey. Rey, whom she and the Rebel Council had just surrendered to the First Order after having been completely check-mated by the First Order's Spymaster. She had an obligation to explain. She owed them and Rey that duty, at least. Without waiting for their query, and as a measure to verbalize what she had just done, General Leia started speaking to the three friends before her and in the half-darkness of the chamber of what had transpired.

 _ **Hours earlier…**_

General Leia betrayed no emotion when her son's masked face appeared in the screens of her Command Center. _Mother_. His voice, deep, heavy with tight rage, belonging to a man she hardly knew. There were hardly any traces of boy she had entrusted to Luke almost a decade ago. _Mother_ , he had called her when he was nineteen years old, after he had tightly embraced her in Ach-to and promised that he will be a Jedi Master more powerful than his uncle. Ben's voice now dripped of disdain and it pierced her heart, as if he found it a nuisance to acknowledge what she meant to him.

Leia gave no answer to her son. Kylo Ren, masked and impersonal, a black phantom blotting the rebels' screens, then went on to say that Bacchus and the Knights of Ren were approaching the Resistance base to negotiate a possible truce. If the rebels refused to receive them, the First Order was waiting with its fleet waiting in space, directly within the orbit of the planet, waiting to massacre its human population.

 _I haven't withdrawn my protection over Rey. They have no choice, whereas we can still flee or attack,_ she thought.

General Leia nodded, and Kylo Ren abruptly ended the transmission. She ordered the rebels to prepare for a full offensive.

The First Order's Command Shuttle nestled in the Resistance base's aircraft landing pit, its great inkly-black wings folded at its sides like a gigantic blackbird foretelling ill fortune. At first sight of General Leia and her entourage exiting the castle and approaching the ship, the doors of the shuttle opened, and three Knights of Ren, masked and in black garb, descended. The tallest Knight stopped a couple of feet before General Leia, dropped to one knee and bowed his head.

"Your Highness," the kneeling Knight somberly addressed her.

General Leia smiled and immediately knew who he was. She raised a heavily ringed hand. The Knight took off his helmet, and General Leia saw in shock the face of her silver-haired first love, Magnus, smiling up at her with opal-grey eyes. He took her hand and bent down to kiss her fingers.

 _But it's not Magnus_ , she reminded herself, wildly reining in her emotions. _Magnus died by my father's hand fighting for the Republic in the old wars._ _The knight before me now is Bacchus. Prince of Eclairage. Son of Magnus' sister, Ophelia._

"Your Majesty, welcome home." the General addressed him. By blood, Bacchus was still the ruler of the Myrra star system, now that his grandfather was gone. This was also a warning to the rebels around them not to attempt anything rash.

They saw Chewbacca walk and stop near them, a belt full of grenades strapped across his furry chest, carrying his custom-made long-arm blaster. Bacchus stood up and nodded at Ben Solo's godfather, and his own former childhood mentor. They were almost the same height. Chewbacca moaned to him that he had gotten taller. Bacchus smirked slightly, and answered Chewbacca in Wookie language that age was agreeing with him.

"Where's Ben?" Chewbacca asked pointedly.

"Waiting for his bride," Bacchus replied. He glanced at General Leia, and immediately knew from her sly smile that she understood everything that was being said between him and Chewie.

"As usual, he doesn't have a clue when it comes to girls."

Bacchus was thankful that Rebecca and Leo, who was accompanying him, did not understand a single word of Wookie. He answered, "He's never shown any interest in them before, Master Chewie."

"Really?" Chewbacca moaned sardonically. "From all that time he spent with you, nobody would have guessed that either."

General Leia coughed back a laugh, and immediately invited Bacchus inside the castle. Bacchus passed an exasperated glance at Chewie, who smiled and shrugged at him. Bacchus moved to follow General Leia towards the castle, but turned back to address Rebecca and Leo, who waited at the foot of the ramp of the ship. They were gazing at Chewbacca, their hands ghosting the weapons at their backs and waists.

"My grandfather passed on the powers of this planet to the General," Bacchus addressed them. Leo nodded and relaxed his grip on his weapons, but Rebecca placed a hand on her hip defiantly. "She has forbidden bloodshed, and while negotiations are ongoing, I extend that same ban to everyone in this place. None of you can attempt any harm without paying for his life."

"And the rebels?" Rebecca asked him.

"They are likewise forbidden," the General replied. She raised an eyebrow at Rebecca Holdo. "You can try, if you like. If you want to prove our point."

Rebecca immediately threw a poisoned knife at the General's direction, and instantly followed it with three shots of a small plasma blaster hidden in the small of her back. These were deflected by an invisible shield that suddenly appeared a feet away from the General's stern, unblinking face. The knife and the blaster shots instantly rebounded to Rebecca's direction. Bacchus lazily waved a hand towards the sky and swept the attacks away from their trajectory towards Rebecca. The knife and the blaster shots exploded above them.

"Satisfied?" He asked Rebecca in disgust. The female knight crossed her arms around her chest sullenly.

Bacchus turned back to General Leia. He offered his arm to her, and together, they entered his family's castle.

…..

"He explained to me the extent of his family's power over anyone setting their feet on this planet," General Leia exlained to Rose, Finn and Poe. "The First Order wanted Rey as the Last Jedi, as a key to their plans to dominate the galaxy. Bacchus could extract her while she stays here in Myrra, but I had to withdraw my own protection over her."

"And you did, in exchange for the base not to be blown up by the First Order's fleet waiting in space," Rose interjected, frowning, but she couldn't help seeing the propriety of the General's decision. Poe's face was troubled and his words were heavy with concern for Rey. "After the truce, we can still try to save her, right?'

General Leia refused to reply. Poe glared at her and lashed out: "Why would you trust the words of a murderous fiend who killed your husband and his father out of cowardice?" Leia stiffened and almost wanted to wring her hands around the pilot's neck at those words, but checked herself. He was right. Of course he was. That was what everyone was actually thinking, and she had to address it right away.

"No matter what you may have heard of the First Order's Spymaster, he's nothing like my son and the others of his Order," the General said. Poe's lips curled angrily in response.

"He is a Knight of Ren! Your son's minion! He has slaughtered millions and destroyed countless planets for your son's ambition!" Poe gritted his teeth as the General flinched at his words. "You hesitate, as always, and trust blindly because of your love for them. Do not try to redeem yourself now for your failures as a mother. Or for your husband's negligence as a parent. Someday, that guilt will cost us everything!"

Rose gasped and growled at Poe to stop talking. General Leia's face was contorted now in pain at the pilot's outburst. Finn paled, but he could not deny that he agreed with everything Poe had said. Rey could handle herself, but he doubted that she could get away so easily this time now that she was under captivity not just from Kylo Ren, but from the entire Order of the Knights of Ren. Leia found herself remembering the bittersweet encounter she had with Bacchus hours before.

…..

Leia watched the tall figure of Bacchus silently staring intently at the vast, luxuriously decorated interiors of his family's castle. She hid a smile as his lips opened slightly in amazement.

"Miss it, don't you?" Leia asked him.

"As a matter of fact, yes. Your son and I were happy here." Bacchus glanced down at her, a small smile curling at a corner of his mouth. "You and my family made sure of that."

"I've always thought that the childhood we gave our sons was enough to last their lifetimes."

Bacchus closed his eyes briefly, and sighed. "It is. But the men we've become was not your fault, Your Highness."

They reached the Castle's Portrait Room, where Leia led Bacchus to a pair of plush, high-backed chairs, facing a wall of immense paintings of Bacchus' ancestors. In the half-darkness, the stern Dukes and Duchesses in the portraits seemed to peer down at Baccus in judgment. Bacchus glanced at them lazily and gave Leia his full attention.

General Leia thought that there was no reason to beat around the bush, and immediately asked him: "Why would the First Order want Rey? Granted that she is the Last Jedi, but you can always kill her. Snuff her out. Not agree to negotiate on a truce like this."

"Word has spread that she and the Supreme Leader are both equal in power in terms of the Force. Continued hostilities would just be a childish, churlish move now." Bacchus smiled as General Leia muttered under her breath: "No kidding". "We needed a better strategy," Bacchus continued, "Always putting in mind why we are both expending our precious resources in this never-ending war."

"From OUR end of the stick, it's always been clear: to end your Order's rule of tyranny, to uplift the hundreds of civilizations that you have crippled and tortured for tributes and slaves, to restore the system of democracy again in the galaxy." General Leia calmly enumerated. But Bacchus only shrugged.

"Peace, Your Highness. Under a single ruler."

"Tyranny."

"You truly think so? The old ways of the Republic gave rise to new rebellions, new wars. The Galaxy will benefit as an empire."

"And Rey has a part in this…how?"

"There has always been a prophecy about the balance of the Force, a mingling of the Light and Dark," said Bacchus carefully eyeing General Leia's reaction. "A marriage."

Leia stared at him in shock. "That WAS NOT what it meant! That is just…preposterous! Luke would never—!"

"They love each other. You've seen it, Your Highness. Their Force Bond is the strongest that has ever been recorded in history. It can bend space and time. It is even more powerful that my family's tesseract spell."

"My son cannot force love by restraining her against her will. Rey needs freedom to know her true desire."

"The Force brought them together. It is their destiny."

"That's slavery!" General Leia hissed. She was shaking her head in disbelief. "I cannot allow this."

"The mind of the Supreme Leader is made up." Leia glared at Bacchus frostily. He tore his eyes from hers and stared up at the portraits of his ancestors. Bacchus could feel the weight of their silent condemnation of what he had done and what he was asking the General to do. _But you are all dead_ , he silently told them. _And you know nothing of the meaning of sacrifice. Of real love._

"You would take this lying down,' she accused him. "You, of your blood! You shame them by this act!"

Bacchus narrowed his eyes, but did not flinch at the General' accusations. "I would do anything to save this kingdom and my people. I joined the First Order to assure its survival after Master Luke foresaw the rise of Kylo Ren."

'You joined the First Order out of love for your brother!"

"I am the only one holding him BACK!" The anger in Bacchus' tone echoed across the chamber. Bacchus took a moment to calm down the red haze in his mind, before he took a deep breath and exhaled, calming his mind. He immediately apologized to the General, who stared at him with a mixture of pity and fury, but she waved a ringed hand at him, signaling that everything was fine. She walked closer to Bacchus, and laid a hand on the smooth, angular plane of his cheek. His skin felt soft on her palm, and to Leia's surprise, Bacchus leaned down into it, closing his eyes.

Locks of his silver hair fell forward, covering Leia's fingers. Against her better judgment, Leia pulled down Bacchus face and softly kissed his forehead. Bacchus sighed, a soft exhalation of breath that seemed to seemed to ripple through his tall, slender frame, and held him completely under the thrall of Leia's one-handed caress.

"I cannot thank you enough for staying by his side," Leia whispered to him achingly. The words came from a deep, subconscious place in her heart that she rarely faced as the Leader of the Resistance. For a moment, she was just a mother, on the verge of losing hope, and clinging desperately to the man who could bring back her only son.

'I am losing him." Bacchus' tone was low and barely reached her ears, but it shot a cold lance of fear through Leia's heart. "If he loses her, it will be the end of us all."

General Leia leaned her forehead against Bacchus', and tightly, breathlessly closed her eyes, steeling herself to make a difficult decision. "It is settled then."

….

There was a heavy silence as Poe walked a few steps away and tuned his eyes to the sight of the huge harvest moon filling the Command Center with an eerie indigo moonlight. He remembered Rey's smile, her touch, and the pink flush that stained her cheeks as she looked up to him shyly, leaning her body into his whenever he took her in his arms. But the General was right; Rose was right. Rey needed no saving. She was strong, tenacious and immensely powerful. Poe didn't doubt that Rey will find a way back to them someday and that she'll be strong to overcome Kylo Ren and his Sith Knights. But he wanted her with him now. He and the others felt stronger when they knew that the last Jedi was fighting by their side. When he knew that she was safely on their side, Poe felt like he could do anything.

 _Trust the Force. Trust the courage and sacrifice of those fighting for the Light, my little love._

Poe's fingers clutched his mother's ring that he kept in a titanium chain around his neck. His mother's words had never failed him during all these years that he fought for the Resistance. He turned back and kneeled before the General, bowing his head to her knees. He apologized for his outburst, and for causing her pain from his reckless words. General Leia placed both her hands on the pilot's thick head of curls. Poe felt drops of moisture fall down his cheek and he glanced up to see the General weeping soundlessly. He immediately embraced General Leia in his arms, holding her tight, as she gave in to a long-repressed flood of grief and guilt for the sins of her only son.

Finn and Rose rushed towards them and also embraced the General. The three friends held the old woman, filling her with their love and strength to overcome her anguish.

Leia's soundless sobs finally subsided, and she became still. Her beautiful dark eyes opened to the faces of Rose, Finn and Poe looking at her anxiously. She felt Rose's smooth hand patting her cheek and drying the streaks of tears. Her bones and her spirit were old and weary, but Leia knew she still had more to teach these younglings. Like them, she will not give up so easily and never give in to regrets over her past ever again.

"Let's save what's left of the Resistance," Leia said, her eyes illuminated as she curved a ringed hand on Rose's cheek, and Poe kissed her other hand happily. Finn and Rose grinned. "And when that's done, let's go save your friend."

…..

The Supreme Leader was in a cheery mood. Bacchus could sense it behind his mask, hear the smile in his normally austere voice, and hoped the rest of the Knights of Ren did not notice. Bacchus knew that Leo Souka was a master of discerning emotions through the Force, but if he sensed Kylo Ren's uplifted spirits, he was too polite or too afraid to speak of it. Bacchus finally knew the reason why when Kylo informed Bacchus that he could sense Rey's thoughts through the Ysalamiri shield encapsulating her chambers.

Rey had only been with the First Order for two weeks, and Kylo already made love to her, Bacchus ruminated with dismay. They were both extremely powerful Force Users, and the strength of their Force bond was unprecedented. Any excess or burst of emotion like pain or…Bacchus cringed and mentally shoved away the image of Kylo and Rey having sex…its opposite was sure to erode or destroy the potency of the Ysalamiri crystals. With that happening, staying in a ship with their hormones askew would be equivalent to a suicide mission.

Rey was in the black-marble swimming pool in her bathroom, soaking and becoming slightly suffocated under a gigantic bubble bath that the attending droids had drawn for her. She heard the soft sounds of the door to her chambers opening and closing, and the voice of Bacchus tentatively calling her name. She answered that she was in the bath, and Bacchus found Rey completely surrounded and covered by a thick, slowly expanding foam of bubbles, her tiny, pink face confused and slightly embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't move from under all this soap," Rey said to him. There was a movement in the half-solid bubbles surrounding her, indicating that she was wildly moving her legs and arms helplessly under the weight of the foam. "I don't know when the droids will come back to pull me out of this."

 _I can carry you out, if you like_ , Bacchus wanted to say, before imagining the Supreme Leader obliterating him to dust with a single burst of concentrated energy from the Force. Bacchus smiled politely, and stayed by the door of the bathroom, averting his eyes from the hilarious sight of Rey struggling to break free from her bath. _She kills the Praetorian Guard and Lord Snoke with nothing more than a week's training under Master Luke Skywalker, and she becomes undone by a mass of murderous bubbles,_ he thought, biting back a smile. He said somberly, "My Lady, I need your permission to check the electric controls in your chambers. It will only take a few minutes."

"Of course, Bacchus. But could you please call those droids back to help me, please? These bubbles have a mind of their own, I swear to—oh, thank goodness!" Rey sighed in relief as the troop of attending robots rushed to her aid, carrying towels and bathrobes, and quickly relieved her of her bath.

Bacchus took out a scanner from his robe and made a rapid assessment of the crystals that lined the walls of Rey's chambers. They were still potent and intact, the shield generated from them also strong and thick, but Bacchus could see waves of pulsing energy gently thinning the barrier the moment Rey returned to her bedroom. Bacchus saw her wrapped in a thick snow-white, floor-length bathrobe made of pure fur, her face pink and freshly scrubbed, and her hair wet and falling in half-dried waves past her waist.

Bacchus discovered to his embarrassment that he was the only one blushing between them.

"Thank you for your assistance, My Lady. Everything seems to be in order," he managed to blurt out.

"Were you able to find what you were looking for, Spymaster?" Rey asked him. Bacchus allowed himself two seconds to gaze at her, quickly having his visual fill of her smile, her dimples deeply piercing her cheeks, the pleasant welcoming glow in her eyes and the rare sight of her unbound dark hair framing her face. He knew now why the Supreme Leader was so utterly captivated by her.

"Yes. A million thanks, my Lady" Bacchus answered hastily, giving a short nervous laugh. Without waiting for Rey's answer, he quickly sobered up, bowed and left. His steps took him to his own chambers, and when he heard the *shink* of the door to his bedroom closing, he quickly took off his mask and cursed loudly.

"We need to get off this ship," he whispered urgently to himself, then added under his breath, "I need to fucking get off this ship."

…

On the way to the Knights of Ren's Training Wing, Rebecca explained to Rey about the best strategy to fight off an attack from an attacker armed with specialized knives that used the plasma from Khyber crystals as blades. Rey's mind went back to that day when she first fought Vittoria, and agreed with Rebecca that she should have moved to her side when making an attack, always aiming for the forearms or wrists, never wavering from the sight of where the knives would strike or where she could disarm her attacker.

"Khyber knives are not much use, of course, when you have to face an army," Rebecca thought out loudly. "You have to have a longer weapon then, like a lightsaber or a double-bladed staff. Not only would you have to block blaster fire, but one should also be able to strike a blow within the range."

The two of them then entered the entrance to the Training Hall, and Rey looked up at the arch of runes that decorated the doorway. Unlike the past weeks that she had visited this part of the ship, the runes were now a brilliant ruby-red.

The vast training room and Weapons gallery of the Knights of Ren took up an entire floor of the massive, custom-built First Order Dreadnought. Rey could see at least three black combat platforms, two of which were being used. Unmasked, hair tousled in mid-action and sometimes shouting in effort, the Souka twins were combatting Kylo Ren in the nearest platform using light sabers. All three were relentless, and their fight seemed to go on and on; Rey found herself being mesmerized by Kylo's fierce and deadly grace as he evaded and countered Leo and Marcus' killer blows from all sides. Kylo dealt a heavy kick on the back of Leo's legs, pushing him face down to the floor. Marcus using a lightsaber staff was forced by Kylo's pushing one side of the staff to evade being sliced open by the other end of the staff, and Kylo finally dealt a long-legged rear kick on his open chest, also landing a defeat on the last twin brother.

"That is why I hate those light saber staffs. Twice the work, twice the caution," Rebecca observed. Rey couldn't help feeling a spark of relief that the bout was over; without knowing it, she sighed, and Rey immediately realized that she had been holding her breath anxiously.

Kylo saw Rebecca and Rey; a slight smile curved on his lips as he stared at Rey. He was breathing heavily, his eyes did not waver from looking at Rey. He took a long draught from the water container Marcus Souka brought him, and leaned on one of the columns decorating the corners of the fighting platform.

"Good morning, My Lady. Rebecca," Kylo said courteously. The Souka twins bowed and waved at them in greeting.

Rey nodded at him, avoiding Rebecca's knowing glances at her direction.

Kylo almost smiled as he gazed down at Rey unerringly. "Slept well?" he asked.

"Yes." _Smug bastard_ , Rey thought at him.

"My Lady is ready to spar this morning, My Lord," Rebecca called out. 'She might benefit from your training."

"She has already bested me," Kylo said, his dark eyes smiling down at Rey. But he walked towards them, bent down and held out his hand. "But if she desires to defeat me again, I am at her mercy."

Rey took Kylo's hand and they walk towards the center of the combat platform. Rey pulled away from Kylo's grip as Rebecca handed her a light saber; when she turned it on, it glowed a vivid sky-blue. Kylo's own weapon was also turned on, and Rey swallowed down her fear at the familiar sight of his cross-guard ruby-red saber.

Rey knew that Kylo's style of saber fighting was fast, brutal and overwhelming, and Rey needed to focus her full concentration, as well as to anticipate his next moves. For the first few minutes, Rey managed to block and push back Kylo's slicing attacks, but she knew that she needed to make a full offensive soon.

She made a series of swift slashes before she made a final jabbing attack move where she concentrated most of her brute force. It worked, and Kylo, blocking it, was forced to step a few steps back and hold his ground. Rey did not charge forward again, but waited for Kylo's next move.

He stood up and nodded slightly, his eyes deep in thought, as if he was examining every second of their bout. "That's good. But that kind of move will drain you easily, especially against an opponent with superior masculine strength. Instead, you can build momentum for a strike by distributing your strength and weight to focus on a blow." He blinked out of his reverie and smiled warmly at Rey, who felt a leap of shock at her chest at his sudden display of affection. "I can teach you a few moves. If you like." Rey nodded and Kylo Ren stepped back, and turned on his lightsaber again. Rey also reverted to her combat stance and turned on her weapon, preparing for another series of fast, unyielding attacks.

A half-hour later, the fight ended with Rey on her back, holding the blue saber of her weapon angled towards Kylo's bare throat in parallel to his crossed saber pointed to Rey's heaving chest. Both were breathing heavily from the exertion, and Kylo was grinning proudly down at Rey, his sweat-dampened wavy locks framing his long oval face.

"It's a draw," Rey gasped, between breaths for air. Kylo chuckled. They both turned off their sabers simultaneously, and Kylo pulled Rey to her feet to bring him close to his chest. His cool, clean scent filled Rey's nostrils, and she stared at the Kylo's slightly-parted lips and chin directly at her eye level. She fought back an urge to lean on her toes and touch his full bottom lip with her finger before flicking her tongue over it.

Rey turned away, and she felt Kylo's breath on the side of her face, caressing the tendrils of her hair. For a split second, memories of her body opening up last night to Kylo's hungry lips and hands flashed in her mind, but Rey resisted the urge to look up at Kylo's gaze. She briefly touched his wrist, and walked away, making a beeline for Rebecca.

Rey heard a familiar voice grunting and shouting with a clash of metal and physical combat. She walked across the hall, glanced back at Kylo to wave goodbye, and saw a bare-faced, unmasked Vittoria Holdo in the farthest combat platform, fending off with a metal staff the relentless offensive attacks from a seven-foot, muscled warrior with a hooded face and armed with a massive axe. Vittoria somersaulted after she blocked a two-handed blow aimed for her head, landed a robust kick on the seven-footer's chest and slid on her back a couple of feet away. She crouched forward to aim an attack for her opponent's legs, but she was blocked, and a heavy kick on her thin back pushed her face down on the floor. Rey immediately recognized a slightly modified fighting sequence she had used to defeat Vittoria back in the old Resistance base. Vittoria raised her head, teeth bared, her violet eyes flashing red. Her opponent tilted his head to the direction outside the ring of Rebecca and Rey watching their fight in mute fascination. Vittoria stood up and walked to the edge of the combat platform. She leaned her forearms on the ropes bordering the platform and stared at Rey intensely, her deep purple eyes betraying no emotion.

"It's good to see that the Supreme Leader has finally released you from your bonds, sister," Rebecca called out.

"Yes," Vittoria answered, her eyes never leaving Rey's face. Her voice was sultry and low, and hinted of long, sweltering nights of passion in the dark. Her pink lips parted into a smile. "He loved me in certain angles while I was…immobile."

Rebecca snorted mockingly. Rey tore her eyes away from Vittoria and settled on the giant that had been her opponent. He took off his hood, and Rey saw his face for the first time. She gasped, her eyes widening.

The giant had the same shade and thick, unruly shock of strawberry red hair, and similar facial features as the Force-sensitive boy Tom Halsey. The giant heard Rey and immediately turned to her, his dark green eyes staring at her in alarm. Rey quickly looked away.

"Why did you bring this amateur here?" Vittoria scolded her sister. "She is not fit to train in our ranks."

'She beat you, didn't she? And using the exact sequence that Theo just defeated you with." Rebecca made a tut-tutting sound. "You really are becoming predictable, sister."

"Say that to me after I kick your face to the dust again, dearest Becca."

'Actually," Rebecca drawled as she smiled widely at Rey. "The Supreme Leader has requested that the last Jedi train with you this morning. If that is alright with you, my Lady," she addressed Rey. The latter raised an eyebrow and looked at Vittoria. The female Knight narrowed her eyes at her in a challenge.

Rey threw a withering glance back at Kylo, but he was furiously sparring again with the Souka twins. She shrugged and climbed up the short flight of stairs to the combat platform. She was reaching for a wooden staff when Vittoria suddenly threw her a lightsaber. Rey immediately caught it.

"No sabers during training, Vittoria," the red-haired giant spoke in a deep, rumbling voice.

"The last Jedi doesn't mind, do you, scavenger?" Vittoria asked Rey.

"No," Rey answered, walking to the center of the ring to face her opponent. "Whatever weapon makes you most comfortable for another throwdown, My Lady Ren." Rey shrugged as Rebecca's light laughter echoed in the hall. "I am entirely at your service."

"Cock-tease," Vittoria drawled at her. Her mouth twisted into a grin as she turned on her lightsaber, the light of her plasma blade a solid ruby-red. Rey took a deep breath and exhaled; she cleared her mind and focused her concentration. The blade of her light saber as it was turned on was a luminous, smooth white. Vittoria immediately charged.

Rey successfully parried Vittoria's furious attacks, backing away to the corner of the platform, before she raised her hand, intending to use the Force to push the Knight away. Nothing came out, and in a flash Rey immediately discerned that the runes that had been turned on at the entrance of the training hall prevented the use of the Force. Vittoria laughed and swung sideways, intending to cut off Rey's head, but Rey blocked it with a left-handed side-swing of her saber, and punched Vittoria fully in the face with her free right hand. Vittoria folded backwards, her nose deeply bruised.

"Bitch!" she hissed at Rey, her teeth bared and turning faintly red from the blood flowing from her gums.

Rey placed both her hands on the hilt of her lightsaber and prepared herself. Vittoria wiped the blood from her lips, crouched in anticipation, and immediately disappeared from Rey's view. Rey sensed movement and the whirr of a lightsaber arriving behind her, and she turned on her heels and raised her lightsaber to block Vittoria's rear attack from above with both her arms. Rey forced a majority of her strength to push Vittoria's blow to the side. Vittoria snarled and raised her head to head-butt Rey, who dropped her lightsaber to the ground, evaded sideways and slammed an elbow to the back of Vittoria's neck. The force of her blow pushed Vittoria's body to the floor, Rey raised her leg and kicked the lightsaber from Vittoria's hand. Both of them landed hard on the ground, with Vittoria face-first, and she screamed loudly in pain. Rey rested her knees on Vittoria's back and splayed arm. She ground the female Knight's face hard to the floor. Her other hand grasped Vittoria's arm and pulled it slightly backwards. Vittoria wailed again in pain, and her legs trashed wildly behind her.

Rey waited for the red-haired giant Knight of Ren to call that the fight was over, but there was nothing forthcoming. "Do you submit?" Rey asked Vittoria.

"Jedi whore!" Vittoria screamed.

Rey pulled Vittoria' arm slightly backwards again, and as the knight screamed, Rey leaned forward to whisper fiercely to the Knight's ear, "The Supreme Leader is yours if you help me escape." Rey wondered if Vittoria heard, but as Rey raised her head, the female Knight became quiet, and replied with a deadly calm, "I submit."

Rey released her, and backed away. She quickly turned to go back to Rebecca, but she heard a footfall and the swish of a metallic weapon being unsheathed, then the small whirr of a Khyber crystal coming to life. Rey turned, and saw Vittoria swing one of her circular Khyber blades at her, leaning forward to aim for her neck. As Rebecca taught her, Rey moved sideways and swiped Vittoria's forearm. Vittoria swung her other arm with another Khyber blade, and Rey grasped Vittoria's wrist to stop the blade from descending on her. Face to face, Vittoria whispered urgently: "You're dead." Vittoria then gave Rey a rough kick on the hips. Rey stumbled backwards and was about to fall with Vittoria advancing towards her in blinding speed, when their movements were suddenly suspended: Rey halfway on her fall to the floor, Vittoria with her blade inches from Rey's neck. Vittoria was suddenly thrust violently against a distant wall, her circular Khyber blades shattered by an invisible force into several pieces. Rey felt a wave of the Force cushion her fall on the floor. She looked up, and saw Kylo Ren watching from the sides, his arm raised. His eyes glanced at her to confirm if she was safe, then he glared at the unconscious Vittoria several feet away from him in a distant corner. He charged towards her, his face contorted, his crossed lightsaber coming to life with murderous intent. Rey scrambled up and immediately ran in front of Vittoria's unconscious form. She raised a hand, and Kylo Ren stopped a few feet from the women.

"There was no harm done. Leave her be, please," Rey implored. Kylo Ren glowered at Vittoria, then stared down at Rey, his black eyes naked with concern and frustration at her show of compassion for an enemy who had just attempted against her life. "She doesn't deserve your mercy, Rey," he told her, turning off his lightsaber. "Remember that." Without another word, he left the Training Hall, followed by the Souka Twins who looked like teenagers as they waved and stared at Rey in concern.

Moments later, Rey heard Rebecca's low sigh of relief. "Remind me never to face you in battle," Rebecca chuckled as she walked to Rey's side. They watched as Theo silently took Vittoria in his arms and carried her to the Medical Bay. "She'll be alright. Theo will take care of her."

"I didn't think she actually meant to kill me here," Rey said.

"She did," Rebecca responded bitterly, briefly closing her eyes at her sister's foolishness. She glanced down at Rey, and reached out to squeeze her hand briefly. "Thank you for asking the Supreme Leader to spare her life. He is right, you know. She doesn't deserve it. But… still."

Rey smiled up at Rebecca. The princess had blanched seeing the flash of fury and rage in Kylo Ren's face as he walked towards her unconscious sister, the red glow of his lightsaber ready to slice through Vittoria's neck. "Still," Rey said. She did not speak out Rebecca's thought, which was crystal clear from the fear that still lingered in the knight's wide amethyst eyes. SHE IS THE FAMILY YOU STILL HAVE LEFT.

They walked back to her chambers in silence. Rey ventured a question. "Why couldn't Vittoria use the Force against me during our fight, and Kylo Ren was able to? I thought only the Sith can use the Force in that hall."

"The Supreme Leader gained the strength to overcome the power of those runes a long time ago, the first year that we were here," Rebecca answered. "He actually needs to control his powers every time he enters the room."

"How did he do it? If you don't mind me asking."

"That was the year Luke Skywalker attempted to take his life. The year our Order was created and our lives changed. But it was harder for our Supreme Leader. He was unbalanced then; and when he learned to channel the energy from this pain, the runes could not hold him back." Rebecca glanced at her sadly. "What happened earlier has never been done before. That was the first time I know of that he has ever shown mercy to anyone."

Rebecca left Rey at her door. She told her that there was going to be a formal dinner tomorrow night to celebrate their last gathering together as an Order before the Knights will be sent back again to their different assignations throughout the galaxy. "We've achieved what we set out to do. Get you, protect you. The Supreme Leader will be taking you to his home after then."

"What does that mean?"

"You are his bride. He will make you his own. And you will claim him too, in the traditional ceremonies befitting a couple that has such a strong and unyielding Force Bond." The dreamy tenor of Rebecca's voice told Rey that she wished for such a marriage for her own. "Afterwards, the star systems will be notified that the two sides of the Force, the Jedi and the Sith, have finally come together to bring balance to the Force and peace throughout the galaxy."

"You mean," Rey was slowly speaking out the words, giving reality to the horrifying and shocking thought that had just dawned to her. "That I am to be subjected to a marriage of convenience?"

"A political marriage, yes. But a love match no less." Rebecca patted her hand reassuringly. "The war between the First Order and the Resistance will only end, My Lady, when the civilizations who support us are assured of stability. This is a step to that goal. You are the Last Jedi. The Supreme Leader is the strongest of us and the future of the Sith. The love between the both of you will end the strife and senseless loss of lives between the warring factions."

"Who says that I have any love for Kylo Ren?" Rey wailed at Rebecca, who laughed.

"Still blind. Or maybe purposefully so," Rebecca answered mysteriously. She waved goodbye to Rey, who entered her chambers feeling more confused than ever.

"Frieking Sith Lords," she cursed under her breath.

….

That night, when the door to her chambers opened, Rey immediately threw to its direction a cushioned sitting chair, which was the heaviest object she could find in the room. Rey was shocked to see that her visitor was not Kylo Ren, but the strawberry-red-haired Knight she had met in the Training hall hours before. Theo Ren.

"I'm so, so sorry," Rey apologized. Theo had easily caught the hair by its curving clawed foot, and he gently set it on the floor. He seemed uncomfortable, feeling as if he was too small for the room, or that the room was just too tiny for his massive height and size.

"My apologies for intruding on your privacy tonight, My Lady."

"No, no. Not at all," Rey assured him. She set out her hand to motion him to sit on the chair he had just caught.

"Thank you, but I'm afraid the structure is too delicate for my weight. I would like to stand, My Lady."

"Of course. Please be as comfortable as you like," Rey answered. "Your name is Theo, isn't it?"

"Theo Ren. Formerly Theo Halsey." Rey's heart skipped a beat at his answer. She struggled to keep her face blank and to empty her emotions.

"I don't know how to say this. Forgive me if I will sound crude or impertinent. But I asked leave from My Lord Spymaster to inquire from you about a personal matter"

"Please," Rey said. "I am not one of the Holdo sisters. You may speak as plainly as you like."

"Well," Theo started. He gazed at Rey uncertainly. "When I took off my hood this morning, you seem to recognize my hair and my face. Have you seen my features before, somewhere?"

 _Lie_ , Rey told herself. _You have no force bond with him. Lie._

"No," Rey replied, with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry. The shade of your hair is just…surprising, that's all."

Theo nodded, and gave a small, dismissive laugh. "It was foolish of me to ask. Of course. I apologize, my Lady." Theo bowed and turned to exit the door. Rey looked at him anxiously, eager for him to go. But Theo stopped and said suddenly, "But if you do see anyone, I beg of you please. I need to know."

"Is it your child? Your family?"

"My family was massacred years ago by rebels. And yet, I keep having these dreams of twin children: a boy with my hair and my eyes, and a girl with my wife's golden hair." Rey saw Theo clench his fists. "These dreams have kept me sane all these years. They have kept me from killing myself."

"And you are sure that they are alive, that they are real?"

"I think that they may be searching for me." Theo's green eyes glimmered with tears as he faced Rey. His entire body seemed to fold in itself and crumble from an inner pain.

'I will help you find them," Rey promised him, unable to bear for a second longer the sight of the strong, massive knight being doubled over in his anguish. "And I believe that you will truly find them someday. I will do everything in my power to help you, Theo."

Theo smiled, the unfamiliar gesture cracking his rock-hard, somber face, and he bowed deeply. "Thank you. My Queen." As he left, he bowed again to someone in the hallway, and Rey saw Kylo Ren enter her chambers, a slightly baffled expression on his handsome, unmasked face.

"That is the first time I've ever seen Theo smile," he chuckled. "It's one of the most frightening things I've ever seen."

Rey also could not get used to the sight of Kylo Ren smiling and displaying humor or affection. His face softened, erasing shadows from the planes of his face, absorbing even the little light that permeated in his surroundings, making him look a decade younger than he actually was. Rey hated herself for finding his look endearing, thinking it made him seem vulnerable and more desirable; but she immediately banished that impression from her mind.

Rey stood up, and walked to a corner near the window. She placed as much distance as she could from the bed, where the memories of her passionate night with Kylo Ren still haunted her, and also from the man himself. She did not trust her own body anymore when he was close. "He sought my help regarding a vision. He thinks that there may be a child out there, with his hair and with his eyes. Searching for him."

"His pregnant wife died years ago in a vigilante attack by rebels," Kylo Ren said, walking across the room towards her, but stopping a foot away. He also stared out of the window, following Rey's gaze as she looked at distant galaxies that swirled and lit up millions of light years away. "He has been seeking his vengeance against them ever since."

"He is a gentle soul. I cannot see him as a murderer beholden to the dark side of the Force."

Kylo Ren crossed his arms across his chest, as he leaned on the viewing glass. He gazed at her, examining her thoroughly for any possible wound or injury. "I trust that you are well from your bout with Alice Ren?"

"It would've been interesting if you didn't butt in," Rey said to him.

"You were falling, and that blade would've slit half your throat."

"I can take care of myself just fine. I didn't need you saving the day."

Kylo Ren exhaled impatiently. Rey glared at him in defiance. "You're welcome anyway," Kylo said.

"It hardly matters what I think," Rey answered him coldly, looking away again towards the window. "When I am being forced into a marriage against my will."

Kylo Ren took a long, labored breath and closed his eyes, as if he was trying to control a surge of violent reaction. He clenched his fist. "I ordered her not to speak of it to you until the opportune time," he informed her. "She never listens, when it comes to you."

"When did you plan to tell me of it, then?" Rey cried out. "When you have already taken my virginity? When I have already borne you a child, the symbol of this balance of the Force that you and your Knights so desperately want to buy your fake damned peace?"

Kylo Ren stared at her, his brows furrowed, slightly disturbed at what she was implying. "You will not be married to me, Rey, against your will."

"Then what do you call THIS? What you planned to do? Am I not being held against my consent? Am I no different from a slave forced to endure her Master's advances and bear his children in a life of servitude?"

"We are bonded through the Force, Rey. We are permanently linked. You cannot deny that the connection we have through our bond is more intimate and real than that of any couple." Rey gave no answer to Kylo Ren's words, and he felt the stirrings of a raging jealousy as an unwelcome thought came to his head that could explain her silence. "You want to be free to love someone else?"

Rey looked at him angrily, daring him to accept the possibility. He gritted his teeth and glared at her. But she did not back down.

"No," he finally growled savagely.

"Then what we have is not love. It is bondage," Rey burst out.

"To love him…this pilot you kissed back in Myrra?" Kylo Ren burst out, his eyes flaring out in anger.

Rey looked at him helplessly. "It could be ANYONE. Even you. I just need to have a mind of my own, to have the freedom to be with someone, love someone, without the workings of the Force intruding on my thoughts with these images of…us…" Rey struggled to finish her sentence. "Being together."

"I am sorry that you feel that way," Kylo Ren told her, his voice quiet and low. "I forget that we have different views about the Force."

"We were taught by the same Master. The Force would never enslave you this way, never diminish your own self-will."

"But it has served us in different ways," Kylo Ren said. "Rey, I have always trusted the Force. It's made me strong, helped me survive, enabled me to protect my brother Bacchus, and our friends." He gave her a little smile. "And it's led me to you."

"I can't love you, Ben," Rey whispered achingly. "If I'm not free. If my heart is not my own."

 _Then whose does it belong to?_ Rey asked herself the moment she stopped speaking. She looked up at Kylo Ren, and saw that he looked devastated, his eyes stricken and pained with unshed tears.

"Free to go back to your pilot, you mean." Kylo Ren's voice was tight with a restrained rage. "To join him in this war to depose me and the Knights of Ren. To rid us of everything we have fought so hard for."

"How many times do I have to tell you that I do not love Poe that way? We are friends. I've never lied to you about that."

"You say one thing, but your actions speak the truth."

Rey shook her head at Kylo, her eyes narrowing. "Whatever you may have seen had nothing to do with you."

"Rey." Kylo's voice suddenly became soft, pleading for her attention. It was the same tender tone he used after they had defeated the Praetorian Guards and he asked her to rule the galaxy with him. The tenderness in his voice reverberated through her, ensnaring her senses. It drove her crazy that she could be affected so easily, and she could her self-control slipping away again; in no time, she would be panicking to rein it in. "For whatever reason you are drawn to that pilot, I can give you so much more."

Rey sighed. He came to her, and she allowed herself to be held, to be kissed at the forehead. She closed her eyes and leaned towards him.

"Be mine," Kylo breathed into the hollow of Rey's ear. His fingers trailed down her spine, sending shivers under her skin, and Rey shifted to distance herself from Kylo, feeling frightened that she was losing her self-control again, but Kylo held her closer, supporting her. He tipped his chin towards him, and Rey closed her eyes against Kylo's gaze. Their breaths mingled, and Rey bit her bottom lip to stop herself from moaning out loud. Kylo kissed her anyway, parting her lips, his tongue sweetly filling her mouth. Rey shivered, but she pulled away breathlessly.

"Don't do this. I can't…think. When you're like this," Rey stammered. She put both her hands on Kylo's chest and pushed herself away from him. She didn't dare look at him; those eyes always disarmed her, and she didn't want to spend another night as a complete thrall under his caresses. She put herself as far away as she could from the bed, and leaned against the glass wall of her window. Kylo smiled at her, and stayed put.

"You don't trust yourself when we're together."

Rey glanced at him helplessly.

"Why are you afraid of being with me?"

"Why are you NOT?" Rey asked back. "You are my enemy. My friends' enemy. Were it not for this force between us, forcing us to be together, manipulating our bodies to feel this way, would you even spare a thought for me? Even look at me if I wasn't the last Jedi?"

Kylo gave her a long, meaningful look, before he looked down and crossed his arms against his chest, clearly unnerved. "I can't be sure. I don't want to lie to you."

Rey let out a long, shivery breath. "I feel the same way."

"But does that matter?" Kylo pleaded. "We are here now. We have shared a night together. You desire me, clearly, and… I have chosen you, Rey. You can't deny that we are made to be together."

Rey looked away.

"Is that not enough?" Kylo asked, achingly.

"I'm not even sure I want this force-bond between us. I don't think I'm ready for it."

Kylo gave her a stricken look, but he softened at the bewildered, helpless look in Rey's face. "Is it truly so monstrous, the thought of being with me?"

"No, of course not. But everything is just happening so fast, Ben," Rey answered. Kylo didn't reply; he felt relieved that Rey wasn't inwardly repulsed by him, but this wasn't the moment to indulge on this small revelation. Kylo waited for her to continue. He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her pain and confusion away, but he could sense that this was not what she needed right now. She needed him to listen.

"I was alone and abandoned in Jakku. Left to survive by myself, defend myself. Years and years piled up, and then all of a sudden, in a matter of weeks, I learned that my family was dead. That I had been hoping for nothing and nobody. Before I could process all of that and perhaps grieve a little, I had joined the Resistance, became a Jedi apprentice, discovered that I had friends and a family among the rebels. And accidentally opened this force-bond between us. I…feel a little overwhelmed. But maybe this is not the time to pause and think those through. These things happen for a reason, as you say. As Master Luke has taught me too." Rey finally looked straight into Kylo's eyes and said, "But I still want to forge my own path. By my own will, in all of this."

A long, meaningful silence settled between them. Rey wished that, just for a moment, she could be in the force-bond again with Kylo Ren, and discern his reaction to what she had just confided. Her words came from deep inside her, from a yearning for the unbound freedom she'd had back in Jakku. She didn't realize until now that she missed it. She knew that Finn, Rose and Poe would not begrudge her if she turned her back on the Resistance and sought her freedom somewhere else, away from The Force, away from her force bond with Kylo Ren. But she knew that Kylo would not let her go that easily.

"Freedom," Kylo finally murmured. "To turn one's back away from everything, from friends, family. From duty. To start anew."

Rey could feel him distancing himself from her, withdrawing into his brooding mental cocoon once again. The expression in his dark eyes was unreadable. But she had to be honest with him, and with herself. "It is a choice, Ben."

Without saying a word, Kylo walked to the farthest wall across the chamber, and crossed his arms as he gazed silently at the window. The ship had slowed down again, and they could see swirling star systems of gases and planets, exploding in multitudes of color. But Rey kept her eyes glued to Kylo's face, brooding and serious in the half-light.

"I never had that choice," he finally said, his low voice soft and thoughtful across the space between them, as if Kylo was only talking to himself. "I can see why it is so irresistible to you, and why you feel unmoored right now, being swept here and there by events that you can't control. The freedom to turn away, to refuse the burdens of one's past, one's inheritance. I wish…" Kylo Ren sighed, a heavy weary sound that clutched at Rey's heart like a vice. "But it's not possible. My mother has always taught me that I would rule, and that it is the responsibility, an instinct even, of our family to guide the Galaxy to peace. It is even more imperative because of the power in our blood."

"But you control others through so much suffering and pain. Through murder and genocide." Rey couldn't help herself with this outburst. "How can you justify all that with…duty?"

"For peace. Stability. The history of my family is a testament that nothing can make it work unless the Sith rule the Galaxy."

"The wars started in our recent age because of what you and the Knights of Ren helped to do."

"We were left to remedy and mitigate the chaos they had caused. Millions died for my mother's cause, and more suffered from the turmoil and political instability that inevitably happened. But she was unperturbed. She fought for principle, my parents said. That I, her son, would have a moral standard to live up to. But that led to nothing but more wars, more unrest. In the end, she'd lost me. She told me that I'd gone down a path she could not follow. But we had the same destination: to rule in peace, to rule civilizations so that they can flourish in peace."

Rey couldn't believe the exasperated resignation she detected in Kylo's voice. _Oh, these Skywalkers_ , she thought disbelievingly. "Ben," Rey pointedly told him, "What will it take for you to realize that the fate of the Galaxy always has NOTHING to do with you and your family?

Kylo stared at her blankly, and to Rey's surprise, he suddenly laughed. A genuine, happy laugh that transformed his features, erased years from his face and stunned Rey. It was like she was looking at a completely different person.

"That's true," he chuckled, grinning widely, his shoulders shaking in mirth. Kylo beamed at Rey, mesmerizing her with the unexpected warmth in his eyes that had softened from their usual, hard black to a warm chocolate hue. Rey couldn't tear her eyes away from him. "We must seem insufferable to you."

"Well, people just seem to keep on falling over and above themselves to follow you and your mom."

"Like you. Like your pilot, Poe."

Rey let out an impatient gust of breath. "Just stop it with Poe. He has nothing to do with all of this."

"You are giving him hope," Kylo said, his eyes glinting dangerously at Rey, his jaw quivering slightly in irritation. "You may think all you want that he is doing all this for the cause of the Resistance. But he only wants you. He always had since the first time you two became what you call 'friends.'"

"You have been the only one who's dominated my thoughts. That's what happens when you have been kidnapped, held against your will—"

"Moaning my name, releasing the sweet nectar of your cum as I worshipped you with my tongue, my lips," Kylo Ren came closer to Rey as he spoke with the words rolling off his tongue and causing the desired result of silencing Rey and pinning her under his gaze. "All night long."

Rey looked up at him venomously. She couldn't deny the effect he had on her any more than she could deny her true nature. He still had not touched her, but his closeness stirred a yearning in her veins for their skins to touch, for his hands to caress the most intimate parts of her. She was weak in his presence. He needed no manacles, no prison for him to hold her. Rey only felt the need to escape when he was not with her. And every time they were together in the same room, the only thought that seemed to enter her head was how long she would have to wait before their bodies came together again in a fury of lust and eventual release.

These are all just animal urges, Rey thought as she lost himself in Kylo Ren's dark, hungry gaze. _The need to pair each other's bodies. When I am old, wrinkled, wizened, he may no longer desire me, and he will finally set me free_. A small smile turned on a corner of his lips, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking of.

"You know my family's history," he told her in a low, quiet voice as his hand slid to the base of her spine, slipped under the material of her shirt, and caressed small circles on the bare skin underneath. "We love only once. We desire only once. If you give yourself to me, you will be mine, and I will be yours, even beyond death. I will love and desire only you. We can never escape each other."

"And my own choice, my own free will to choose?" Rey murmured, as Kylo Ren's lips descended on her temples to kiss her scalp. His free hand moved to cup the back of her neck.

"The Force has chosen us to be together. I do not doubt that you will be the only one for me." Rey sighed softly as Kylo Ren untied the knots of her chest bindings under her shirt. "You will always be the only one for me," He whispered. Kylo caressed the curve of Rey's slender back, before his hand ventured to cup a heavy mound of her breast. He chuckled wordlessly as Rey's nipple stiffened under his palm. "In time, I know you will feel the same for me."

"You fiend," she softly breathed. He pushed her back against the nearest wall and lifted her up, levelling her taut, swelling breasts to his eager mouth. Rey arched as Kylo Ren's lips greedily kissed and devoured her breasts. His large, calloused hands cupped their softness and he laughed softly as these were still not enough to carry their full shape and weight.

"I want you, Rey," Kylo whispered to her. "Let go. As I have. There is no right and wrong; no Light or Dark. We only have each other."

Rey gazed down at him, a strong flush staining her cheeks. It was the first time that she completely saw his face. Beyond the haze of desire, she was struck by how handsome he was, and yet so marred by a deeply ingrained sadness and a weariness. It was like looking at herself barely a year ago back in Jakku. She caressed the side of his face softly, and he leaned into her touch. She locked her hands at the back of his neck and drew him closer to her. His hold on her body relaxed until she was finally level to his face, and in that moment, she leaned forward and kissed him.

He tasted sweet, exhilarating; his scent of clean man filled her nostrils, and she tasted his tongue as it filled her mouth. His hands roamed down her back and over her hips and buttocks. They slid down the smooth porcelain skin at the sides of her legs, and hooked her knees around his hips. Rey sighed in raw pleasure as she opened the wet, quivering center of her sex against his hardness; her sighs became a rough breathless scream as his fingers gently slid over the damn, dripping cloth of her underwear, rubbing against her swollen clitoris.

Rey struggled to think clearly through the stream of pleasure and physical yearning that flooded her senses. Kylo Ren's words to her felt so right; their bodies straining to be ever closer to each other, coming together in one inevitable future climax felt so right. But she couldn't surrender like this forever. She had to carve her own path, make her own choices, find her freedom.

Kylo brought her to Rey's bed and tenderly laid her down. He quickly peeled off every article of her clothing, following the pathways of her hands with kisses until Rey almost blacked out and was trembling from pleasure. "Eyes on me," Kylo commanded, and Rey gazed at him through half-closed eyelids. Kylo gently touched and caressed Rey's open labia, and didn't waver from gazing at Rey as he slowly licked every drop of her cum on his fingers.

 _If you don't stop this, you will spend the entire night again at his mercy_ , Rey desperately told herself, but she ground her hips closer to Kylo's hand, and arched her back, giving out a long, soft moan as he bent his head down between her thighs. _Take control._

Rey sat up and shoved her hands on Kylo's thick, wavy hair. It seemed to spur him on, and Rey gasped soundlessly as Kylo dug his fingers on Rey's thighs and kissed her deeper on her molten center.

Rey pulled herself away and pushed Kylo to the side. There seemed to be no strength left in her legs, and she was completely naked as Kylo flicked his tongue to the side of his mouth, licking the remnants of Rey's juices. A satisfied smile quirked mischievously at the corner of his lips, as he stared hungrily at Rey's parted legs, her heaving breasts and her pink, embarrassed and lust-hazed face.

Rey swallowed hard, and summoned the strength to say, "We can't do this."

Kylo bent down and kissed Rey's smooth, sweat-moistened stomach, and the fragrant under-curves of her breasts. He passed a hand over Rey's cleavage and rested it on her neck, lightly flicking a thumb over her lips. "I've only just started," he murmured.

"You control me through…this," Rey struggled to say. "It's not fair. I can't fight you when we're together. Like this."

Kylo rose on his knees, and began taking off his clothes. "No," Rey gasped. She rolled to the side of the bed, took her shirt, and hastily put it on, pulling the edge of the hem halfway down her upper thighs. Kylo sat down at the edge of the bed, and Rey stood close to him. He pulled her closer and buried his face on her clothed stomach, inhaling the scent of her.

"What did you have in mind?" Kylo asked. He slipped his hand over Rey's bare thigh and ass. Rey arched from his touch, fought off the temptation to hook her leg over Kylo's shoulder and shove her wet pussy to his mouth. Kylo seemed to have the same thought as his hand bunched on the front of Rey's shirt, ready to tear the thin material from her body.

Rey stepped back from Kylo, and walked away from him, but he followed her, staring intensely into her eyes. Rey stopped when she felt the hard surface of the glass wall on her back. He gazed down at her, his eyes lingering at Rey's slightly parted mouth, and the deep cleft of her cleavage.

"Tell me what you need from me, Rey,"

"We can't just keep on having sex all the time," Rey answered, struggling to keep her voice steady.

A secretive, close-mouthed smile slowly crept up a corner of Kylo's lip and lit up his eyes as he looked down at her, half-inquiring and happy at a sudden realization. "You thought…that what we did. Actually, what only I have been doing to you…is sex?"

Rey blushed, but she quirked up an eyebrow and glared at Kylo defiantly. _I'm going to strangle Rose the next time I see her_ , she decided in the back of her mind. "No!" Rey burst out, gritting her teeth. "But I know it can't just be me who's naked all the time, while you-" Rey makes a fake disgusted noise as she makes an upward motion on her hand, pointing to Kylo's fully clothed body. "-show nothing."

 _What are you doing? What are you ASKING him to do?_ Rey's inner voice blared inside her mind, as Kylo took a couple of seconds reading Rey's face; but she kept her expression neutral.

"You're right. I have been so selfish all this time," Kylo finally said, his voice low and husky. He started taking off his clothes, and Rey kept her eyes levelled to his, refusing to look down and get flustered, like the last time she had seen him half-naked through the force-bond in Ach-to. When he finished, Rey felt a throbbing warmth touching her womb. Rey finally glanced down at Kylo's manhood, and immediately looked away, feeling a rush of solid warmth flood her cheeks. Kylo slipped his hands under her shirt, his touch like fire on her sweat-moistened skin, and slowly took off her shirt. When both of them were finally naked, Kylo moved closer to Rey and cradled her face with his hand, tipping her face to his. His facial expression was serious, dark with hunger, but thoughtful and ruminating, as if he sought to memorize every detail of her face.

"Tonight, you have all of me. To do as you wish," Kylo said to her, softly touching Rey's bottom lip with his finger. "And I can teach you all you need to know about making love." He gave her a slight, uncertain smile. "If you care to learn."

Rey glowered at Kylo Ren, her breath increasingly becoming shallow. A million thoughts raced across her mind about how wrong this all was, and how she would regret submitting to him again. But before she knew what she was doing and before she could stop herself, Rey stood up on her tiptoes to press her lips unto his. She pushed him down to the floor, on his back, and she gave a sharp, throaty moan of pure pleasure as she straddled him and eased the unbearable tingling between her thighs by rubbing the wet lips of her vagina against the base of Kylo's throbbing erection. At the unexpected sensation of Rey's warm, silky wetness on his loins, Kylo bit his lip to keep on crying out loud in raw pleasure, but a rough moan escaped his lips nevertheless. "Teach me," Rey gasped, as Kylo's hands caressed her breasts and slid down to grasp her small hips, his finger digging into her soft flesh. Kylo could feel Rey's feminine juices pooling around his groin, her labia throbbing convulsively at the edge of his erect penis, and he could barely control himself from raising her hips to plunge his manhood deep inside her. He rose up to kiss her parted, moistened lips, and Rey locked her legs around him. "Teach me everything."

…

Poe stared at the hologram map of the Kyrthis star system, his brows furrowing with uncertainty. Maz Kanata had told him by a hologram message about a wandering hermit that had travelled to this region who could provide him with information about the location of the First Order's premier star ship, the Imperium. The rebels' intelligence were all in accord that this brand new ship, which could not be detected by any scanner, could only be found by someone who was familiar with the ways of the Force. The spies had also reported that this was where the Knights of Ren were converging upon command of the new Supreme Leader, Kylo Ren. If we can find Kylo Ren, we can find Rey, Poe had thought, and he knew that Rose and Finn thought the same thing during the debriefing; but General Leia emphasized that there was a greater objective to this mission: if we destroy this ship, there was a chance we could destroy all of the Knights of Ren, and obliterate its High Command in one fell swoop. The Resistance was ready: they had been able to recover and even increase their fleet and manpower during the weeks that they had changed base from the Myrran System to another resource-rich planet who supported their cause, and which the First Order had left alone after its rulers paid the heavy tribute. Their opportunity had finally come.

Poe double-checked the coordinates that Maz had sent him, and inputted them again, but the cartographic records of the Rebellion showed the same dark, empty spot. The planet Maz had described simply was not there.

"Is the map incomplete?" Poe asked Chewbacca, who sat next to him in the cockpit of the Millenium Falcon. The General had assigned them to his mission of finding the hermit to get information about the Imperium's recent location.

"The information is correct as to the location of the surrounding stars and objects. Only the planet is not there," Chewbacca replied. He glanced at Poe. "We could go check it out."

Poe nodded, and prepared the Millenium Falcon to go to hyperdrive for the Kyrthis system. As he finished and the ship rushed into lightspeed, he felt a light, furry hand on his shoulder, and saw Chewbacca smiling down at him.

"Hang in there," he said in Wookie. "You'll find Rey."

"This isn't about finding her," Poe replied. "Right, fly-boy," Chewie loudly grumbled, rolling his eyes and shuffling out of the cockpit towards his quarters.

Poe unconsciously reached out for his mother's ring deep under is shirt, his eyes on the beeping location tracking system that showed the Millenium Falcon getting nearer their intended destination. He did not dare hope, or welcome any thought that he could find Rey during this mission. Ever since his conversation with the General in Myrra, he had shoved away all thoughts of Rey, and forced himself to experience nothing of the feelings that he had felt during that fateful afternoon when Rey had submitted to his touch and both of them had allowed the possibility that they could be more than friends, more than companions in the Resistance. The last time he had felt so happy had been when his parents had taught him how to fly when he was a child. But the General and the other people who knew of his liaison had dismissed his feelings as mere folly, a passing infatuation that was common among the rebels who often lived their lives each day as if it was their last. For weeks after the General's cruel, frank dismissal, Poe had been unstoppable going on solo missions to destroy far-flung First Order bases, unleashing his nuclear charm in recruitment and reconnaissance talks, and leading complicated missions to infiltrate and destroy citadels belonging to the Knights of Ren and their lieutenants. Theo Ren, known to be the deadliest Knight of Ren and considered as even more dangerous than his Master Kylo Ren, had vowed to personally end him. But Poe and his squadron mates always escaped: by mere good fortune, by the mysterious ways of the Force, by outsmarting their enemies, they were not sure. It was the strangest streak of good luck that he and the rebels had had for a long time. Poe found it comforting to think that this was all meant to be, that it would lead to him finding Rey, and both of them will work together with the Resistance to finally destroy the First Order, leading to an age of peace.

Poe leaned his head back on his seat, closing his eyes as if he was in pain. Memories of Rey: her laughter, her random acts of kindness, her flushed beautiful face after they shared kisses and she leaned into his body, needing him, imposed themselves every now and then in random moments during the day. At night, it took all of his will power not to invite those memories to fill and invade the long hours that he was by himself. Poe knew he would have gone mad without the draughts that the Resistance doctors plied him to help him sleep and rest. Rose had suggested that he examine his feelings for Rey, to find out if he was only seeking for a fling or something long-term; but Poe knew the answer to that already. He refused to acknowledge it; refused to let it shape itself into thoughts or a clear purpose in his mind. He dared not hope, dared not yearn that being together with Rey would be a possibility in the future. He kept telling himself that all his actions were for the Resistance, and reminded himself of the reasons that he had been doing this before he even met Rey. He was aware that he was forcibly reminding himself of these reasons, several times in a week, ever since Rey's kidnapping in Myrra. He was in love. There was no going back. He had fallen deep and hard for the Last Jedi, the one woman in the entire universe who could never be his, and had probably already been claimed by the person that she was meant to be with: the person with whom she shared a Force bond.

He had read all the available resources from the archives about Jedi Knights and Force Users sharing a Force bond: that it was a rare thing, a lifetime connection, extinguishable only by death. All his instincts, his logic, his reason pointed to the one conclusion and resolve that he should forget about Rey and forget about those brief hours that they had spent together. Poe wasn't even sure that Rey reciprocated his feelings, but she had accepted him, liked him, welcomed him. It could be something that they could build on. And yet he was not the one she was destined for, and not the one whom the Force had chosen for her to be with. Poe wondered why he couldn't just let it all go. He wondered why he still nurtured the hope that there could be something between him and Rey in the future. No matter how reckless he pushed himself in his missions, and how close he invited the prospect of death as a captain of the rebel pilots, he still could not banish her and the hope of spending their future together from his mind and from his feelings.

The Millenium Falcon got out of lightspeed, and Poe sat up to peer into a bizarre, swirling star system filled with half-formed planets, clouds of glittering dust and a young, bluish star at the center of it, pulling the gravity of these stellar bodies into its orbit. Chewbacca appeared at Poe's side, sat down next to the pilot, and also stared at the view before them in bewilderment.

"Are you sure we're in the right—whoah!" Poe stopped in mid-sentence as the ship gave an almighty jerk. All the electrical controls of the ship automatically turned off, but the ship steered forward, guided by an unknown pulling force. Poe and Chewbacca yelled instructions at each other in panic as they flipped one control after another to turn on the engines and try to fly out of the pulling force that was drawing them closer to the star system, but these were all in vain. All the engines of the ship, all its controls, had been turned and cut off.

"We landed straight into a black hole!" Chewbacca moaned.

"Actually, no. Pipe down, you big sack of fur," a voice blared into their cockpit. The hologram-message screen flickered on, and the face of a beautiful, middle-aged woman with light hair and high cheekbones appeared. She shook her head at them exasperatedly. "You're not plummeting to your deaths. You are being pulled into our planet, Lenthys, solely by the power of its guardian, Lady Himari Souka. She turned off all the electrical and manual controls of your ship to ensure that number one, you will not contact your Resistance friends sooner than needed about what's going to happen, and number two, so that you won't be smashed into pieces by the gazillions of killer star dust, gases and neutrinos that are still forming into baby planets in our solar system, and would be enough to obliterate your bodies if any one of you makes a slight piloting error."

Poe hotly protested, "I would never—"

"Yeah, I know, I know. A hotshot pilot like you would never make an error like that," The blonde woman made a dismissive snort with her lips, slightly shaking her head. "But this is your first time in our solar system, fly-boy. So we are doing you a favor."

Poe and Chewbacca exchanged looks of horror as the Millenium Falcon came within view of a beautiful ocean planet, filled with mountains of pure white and pink clouds.

The lady in their message screen winked at them, and made a mock salute. "My name is Sigurn Halsey, by the way. My children, Tom and Yvaine, and our guardian, Lady Souka, bid you welcome to our home. We can't wait to meet you!"

 ** _-End of Chapter Four -_**

 _**Notes: Life and work caught up with me, which is why it took me longer to brainstorm, write and post this new installment. I also sort of hated writing it, because I couldn't wait to move on to the chapter after it. But it turned out to be too long, took up too much of my time; and sadly, I'm going to have to wait for another break in my hectic schedule (as a mother, a licensed pro, a wife, a daughter…strictly in that order) to write what I really wanted to write: scenes of Poe and Rey bonding on their own and making love (finally!), of the Halseys and Himari finally battling the Knights of Ren, of Rey's escape from Kylo, and Rey finally training to get the full scale and control over her Force powers before coming back to face Kylo in an epic showdown._

 _Try as I might, I never can seem to get rid myself of #reylo. Which is why the next chapter is going to be so much harder to write: because I ship #damerey too. Oscar Isaac's Poe Dameron is just crazy sexy, and I can't wait to write a balls-out, moans-in-chorus love scene for him._

 _Thank you for the reviews! I have to admit that I didn't expect anyone to read my story at all; it was just a castle in the air that I couldn't get rid of after watching The Last Jedi, so I had no choice but to jot it all down. You are all very kind, and thank you for your time in reading my unreasonably long chapters. I know that if I keep writing fanfiction, I'll eventually be better at it, and write shorter installments. Much love!_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Rey woke up under multiple fur coverlets, her bare legs spread around Kylo Ren's lean and muscular torso. Her last conscious memory was falling on top of him, limp and weakened from the exquisite drain of her last orgasm, and Kylo exhaustedly wrapping an arm around her waist, reaching out to plant a kiss on her damp forehead. She did not know how many hours had passed since she'd lain stark naked on top of him. She had rested her head on the hard bicep of his arm and shyly placed her hand on his chest, feeling the hard thud of his heartbeat slowing down, her own ragged breathing becoming in sync with his. Their bodies entwined, slick with perspiration that was now cooling on their flushed, tingling skin, they both fell asleep in each other's embrace.

He was her first lover. The one to whom she willingly, passionately, surrendered her virginity. As she had asked, Kylo Ren taught her the ways of giving and taking pleasure, and it had been nothing like the brief and brutal trysts Rey had witnessed and successfully escaped from in her long years growing up in Jakku. He was patient, gentle, and sensitive to her needs and inexperience. He wanted her to reach her own climax first, several times over, letting her be comfortable with the ways that her own body could enjoy his, until Rey wanted more of him, yearning for him to take her as greedily as she claimed him, and it was only then that he abandoned his self-control. Rey blushed hotly at the ways Kylo had used her body for his own release. He was insatiable and selfish; the light brown of his eyes deepened to a hot, smoldering black as he drove hard and relentlessly into her. Rey could barely hold on, her fingers clutching at the sheets as she orgasmed tightly and breathlessly, and still Kylo never stopped nor lost his relentless pace, until he climaxed on his own, several times in the hours that they were together, pouring his seed inside of her, muffling his long, ragged moans as he kissed the back of her throat open-mouthed or sucked desperately on her clavicle or the soft tender skin on her shoulder.

Rey raised her head to gaze down at Kylo Ren. Her eyes drank in the sight of his facial features, his thick, glossy black hair, the flush on his cheeks, and his lips, always so full and luscious and red. She shivered in pleasure as she remembered those lips greedily kissing her between her legs, wanting more of her, never having enough. And his eyes. He never took his eyes off her as she made love to him, her naked breasts swollen from Kylo's caresses and open-mouthed kisses. They had no Force connection inside her chambers but he could ensnare her with a single hot gaze and fill her with a furious, desperate need to fill her tongue with the taste of his skin and grind her hips against his while feeling his fingers dig painfully into the flesh of her hips and his big, warm hands kneading the muscles of her flat stomach, her womb and the base of her spine.

Carefully, Rey disentangled herself from Kylo's embrace, making sure not to disturb his sleep. It was chilly inside her chambers, and she pulled off one of the plush fur coverlets to wrap around her naked body. She rose on her knees and got out of the bed, almost falling down at the momentary loss of strength in her legs. Kylo had taught her a couple of positions where she took control of her own pleasure, and those involved a lot of thigh and hip muscle work. She felt a tingling, raw soreness between her thighs, reached out to her vagina, and her hand scooped out the milky-white stream of her feminine cum mixed with blood. Rey saw that her thighs were likewise smeared with the stark red of fresh blood: proof of the surrender of her virginity to Kylo Ren. She had no doubt that Kylo's hips and the snow-white sheets of their bed likewise had the same sticky stains.

Rey sighed, and immediately walked to the bathroom. She turned on the hot water tap for a bath and made sure to dial the soap controls to "normal" to avoid the pink, strawberry-scented monstrousity she had ordered yesterday. As the humongous marble bath filled with water and bubbles, she gazed past the open door of her bathroom at the starlight reflected on her bedroom window.

It was becoming a habit of hers whenever she had a moment to herself to remember her long, lonely years growing up in Jakku, but she couldn't help it. She was millions of light years away from the planet of her childhood, but even here, she recalled whole nights in her tiny hovel, trying to distract herself from her hunger pangs by staring up at the night sky filled with stars and twinkling, swirling galaxies.

Loneliness, hunger, bone-grinding poverty. She had escaped those, but she could never be free of her memories of them. Unkar Plutt and the rest of the scavengers in Jakku had all scorned her and perceived her as barely a level above garbage. Even the courtesans and prostitutes in that planet had had better lives than her, and they also looked down their noses as she worked each day for her food and the little extras that she was given every once in a while: new clothes once or twice a year, new goggles, a barely scuffed pair of shoes that someone had taken off a newly buried corpse. Unkar Plutt never suggested that she take up sex work, but other traders had, knowing that her virginity could fetch a high price. Rey never yielded; in Jakku, she never once thought that she would give herself to anyone at all. _And now…_ Rey sighed, closing her eyes tightly.

 _I didn't even struggle,_ she thought despairingly. After years of defending her femininity against pedophiles and rapists, even an occasional mercenary who would stumble on her home and try to force himself on her in the middle of the night, Rey 1had surrendered it willingly to her kidnapper. Her sole destined enemy. The Supreme Leader of the Sith. But she couldn't stop desiring Kylo Ren. They could not sense each other or manipulate each by the Force Bond inside her chambers, and yet she couldn't control her bodily reactions to his mere presence. She had to learn to disassociate herself from him. Close off her senses, her mind.

 _And her heart,_ the thought arose in Rey's mind, but she immediately, violently swiped it aside. It was ridiculous that she could be in love with him. What they had together was nothing like the quiet, deep intensity and connection that she had seen in Finn and Rose, the rebel couples furiously living one day at a time as if it was their last and the quiet intimacy of married spouses who had seen and experienced loss, despair, joy and redemption together. General Leia had wept at Han Solo's funeral; the pain she experienced at the General's loss was real and left her broken-hearted; it had shaken her and the rebels to the core.

What Rey and Kylo Ren had was pure lust, pure obsession, an endless need to use and physically possess each other. If they had not been connected through the Force, he would never have looked twice at her. They were on opposite sides of the spectrum, and it had taken him violating her liberty to force them to be together, pushing the silly, measly agenda of marrying the Last Jedi and the Supreme Leader to bring balance to the Force as an afterthought. Without her Force powers, she would not have crossed Kylo Ren's path. She still would have been the half-starved scavenger back in Jakku; she could have been one of the unfortunate ones whom Kylo Ren had massacred in the village of Tuanul. She would still be back in her small home, eating stewed cactus, dreaming of being a pilot.

Rey wondered if she could ever have the love she had long desired: the love that did not span galaxies, involved royal houses, struggles between spiritual knights of the Light and Dark. She wanted a relationship that just made her feel cherished, without promises or conditions. A love that did not involve her fixing the problems of the Old Republic, balancing the Force, or other cosmic mumbo jumbo. She imagined a small cottage set in a place like the cliff she had seen the Halsey twins in: on one side the ocean, deep and full of life and secrets; and in the other, an orchard of fruit trees growing tall and out of control. She had imagined having two children: a boy and a girl, who would swim in the waves, fly kites along the beach with a large furry dog trailing after them, feed birds in the spring with seeds and dried fruit, and drive the cows from pasture back to their pens. She summoned the imaginary husband she had spun out of her yearning for love and companionship in those hard, painful years alone: tall, strong and capable, with the green thumb that Rey never had, and a smile that could light up an entire star system.

Rey knew she would never have that kind of life with Kylo Ren. He was too deep inside his personal obsession to control the Galaxy, and she only mattered to him because she was Luke Skywalker's last apprentice. She pictured the years she would have with him: an endless succession of days inside palaces, being bored in parades and long-winding events where either one of them had to address crowds, being attended by servants who will never allow her to dress on her own, her actions regulated by protocol, being watched, endlessly watched, by more spies than friends. Their children would be nothing more than props to promote the image of the First Order; and Rey knew they would never be truly her own, nor would they have the freedom to live their own lives separate from their father's agenda. If Rey would ever allow herself to fall deep in love, and she knew she would if she chose to step over that edge, she would become like Vittoria Holdo. Love would enslave her, because Kylo Ren demanded nothing less from the people who followed him. If Rey embarked on that dark path, she knew she could never turn back from it.

Rey vowed then and there that she will never fall for him. Making love to him again and again during her captivity would be inevitable. It was what she had wanted too. Now that she knew that her pull to him was sexual in nature, she could isolate it in her mind and learn to disassociate herself from it. If she could, she thought as she remembered Kylo Ren's intense hungry gaze and his hands slipping under her back as he buried his face on her breasts. She had to. She must.

The water inside her bath finally reached the rim of the tub, and Rey opened her eyes to turn off the taps, but another hand reached out from behind her and deactivated them first. Kylo stood beside her, Rey rose up, hurried to keep her face blank, and leaned her face on his chest.

He must have seen her deep in thought because he whispered "Tell me what's bothering you", his voice rumbling in his chest. Rey refused to meet his gaze, so she could not see the troubled look in his eyes as he gazed down her. Kylo waited seconds for her reply, but Rey remained silent. Kylo slipped his hands behind her knees and bridal-carried her towards the full tub. He followed after her, and he moaned against her lips as Rey wrapped her arms around his neck and locked her legs around his waist. She pulled him towards her for a deep kiss.

They made love to each other among the bubbles and the fragrant bathwater, Rey moaning at Kylo's half-violent thrusts. Her small hands clutched at the smooth muscles of his shoulders until they both came, hard and almost blindingly, Kylo putting a hand out on the rim of the marble bath to support himself, and Rey clutching his nape, the wet locks of his hair, the spasms of their intense pleasure sapping their strength and leaving them gasping for breath.

"Hours ago you pleaded with me not to have sex and just to talk," Kylo murmured moments later as they lay quietly in the bath, their arms wrapped around each other. "And now…"

Rey shifted in his embrace to bury her face at the crook of his neck.

Kylo chuckled softly. "You can't keep hiding yourself from me." Kylo cradled her face and forced her to look at him, but Rey sat astride him and swooped down on his lips for another kiss.

"Rey," Kylo groaned as she descended on his erection and started moving against him. Rey took his hands and placed them on her breasts, the tips of her nipples hardening against his palm. Kylo swallowed hard and closed his eyes, fighting against the urge to ram himself inside her again. He gently pushed her off him and rose to get off the bath. Rey sulked back among the bubbles. He sat on the ledge, watching her. She still refused to meet her gaze.

"Look at me, " he whispered softly, his deep, kind voice reverberating in her ear like a caress. "Please." Rey finally opened her eyes, and Kylo's steady, dark brown, almost-black gaze seemed to pin her down to where she lay.

"Tell me what's troubling you," he asked again. "Whatever it is, we can find a solution together." He gently caressed the hair on her temples. The concern and sincerity she saw in his eyes unnerved Rey.

 _My friends_ , she wanted to reply. _The reason why I can never seem to be free of you. Why I can never have any control over my own body's responses to your touch, and how disturbed it makes me feel. My own role in this charade you have put up, the ridiculous role of being your Queen which you want to force upon me, and how I can never fit in to such a task._

"Just leave me alone," Rey answered, her voice soft and quiet. "I'm sorry." Kylo immediately stood up and walked out of bathroom, but not before Rey saw the pained glint in his eyes, the same look of hurt that he had given her after she had rejected him in Snoke's ship. Rey held her breath, fighting down a wave of despair and guilt from having caused him pain, and dove under the bubbles.

Almost as if someone had flicked on a switch inside her mind, the onslaught of her Force sensitivity came rushing back, pain from the shock of the sudden rush of power filling her veins like the pinpricks of a million needles. Rey doubled back in shock, and let out a horrified scream.

...

Poe gazed into the deep aquamarine shades of the sea before him, his experienced eyes needing only a minimal adjustment to the nearly-blinding glints of daylight reflecting from the waves. The Millenium Falcon was gently and smoothly placed on top of towering rocky spire, surrounded on all sides by snowy-white sea foam and rocky waves. The entrance to the ship opened, and he and Chewbacca descended into the thick carpet of overgrown deep-green grass that covered the surface of spire's landing. A strong gale of wind from the sea whipped the sheaves around them, Poe's lengthening curls of hair, and Chewie's fur. Several minutes of waiting stretched into a half-hour and Chewie and Poie strained their eyes to the horizon and the endless sea that surrounded them from all sides, but nobody came to see them.

"Any idea how long it be before sundown in this planet?" Chewbacca asked. Poe shielded his eyes and stared into the sky, but the planet's sun was still high and hot above them. "Looks like it's still midday," he answered.

"We need to set up camp and look for provisions." Chewie glanced around. They saw several schools of fish glinting among the waves, and a couple of sea serpents trailing in and out of the surface of the water. "Do you know how to fish?"

"For sea dragons?" Poe asked in consternation.

"No need," a little girl's voice chirped from above the ship. Poe and Chewie turned around and craned their heads to see two children dressed in white, woolen clothes perched on the ledge of the Millenium Falcon's entrance. "And besides, sea dragons taste horrid when cooked."

The little girl was startlingly beautiful, with golden hair that shimmered in the sunlight and deep aquamarine eyes that gazed down at Poe and Chewbacca with cheerful interest. The little boy beside her was clearly her brother; they had the same face and porcelain white skin, but his eyes were a dark forest green, and his hair was a tumble of strawberry red locks that fluttered around his face in the wind. He was wary of them, and he narrowed his eyes at the blasters in Poe and Chewie's hands.

 _These must be the twins the woman Sigurn was talking about,_ Poe thought. _Tom and Yvaine._

"My mother and Lady Himari wait for you, Commander Poe, General Chewbacca," Tom said, his steady voice barely audible in the strong wind. "Please let us lead you to our castle."

"We can't get off this landing," said Poe. Tom smirked. "You rebels are always fond of stating the obvious," he said, before he jumped down beside Poe and suddenly grasped his arm. The girl Yvaine giggled as she jumped and landed in Chewie's arms. They disappeared, and Poe felt himself being folded and forced into a single point. Intense pain invaded his consciousness as that point was then being stretched into a single infinite line. As suddenly as it had begun, Poe felt being forced into wholeness again, and he fell down from thin air into the fragrant, open arms of a woman, slightly knocking her out of breath. Poe gasped, and he looked up into the large violet-blue eyes of Sigurn who had welcomed them in the Millenium Falcon. His lungs felt scalded, deprived of breath, and his chest violently heaved, gulping for air, as he watched Chewie also appearing out of thin air, with Yvaine clinging to his neck.

"What the flying fu—" Poe rasped in panic, but his body started to shiver uncontrollably, as a sudden chill invaded his veins. Sigurn woman held him tight, and caressed his nape, her voice crooning a lullaby-like spell that slowly seeped warmth back to Poe's limbs. She left him still slightly shivering on the heavily carpeted floor. Tom wrapped a thick woolen blanket over his body.

In his half-consciousness, Poe heard Chewbacca moan softly that it was the Poe's first time to go through a tesseract. Sigurn scoffed that pilots' bodies ironically never adapt easily to tesser travel. Unable to argue with her, exhaustion keeping him from stringing a single comprehensible thought, Poe slipped into a deep, healing sleep. He dreamed that he was back in the Rebel base in Myrra, with Rey, Finn and Rose laughing and throwing him multi-colored foam hearts. He was overjoyed to see Rey again, and she was smiling at him, her dimples deeply biting into her cheeks, her eyes brightening as they held hands. Just as he was about to kiss her, he felt himself being pulled into consciousness again, and he woke up. Poe opened his eyes and groggily sat up. He found himself inside a cozy study, with a lit fireplace, and the walls filled from floor to ceiling with shelves of books. In front of him were the twins, squatting by the fireplace, playing with marbles. They waved happily at him, and turned their attention back to their game. Blonde, haughty Sigurn was now knitting beside them in a sofa, huge orange glasses propped on her thin, elegant nose. Chewbacca was sitting in a reading chair, eating a stick full of cooked marshmallows. Poe glared at him in exasperation. The furry general shrugged his shoulders and moaned that they were delicious, that he should try them. "They're called s'mores," he said. Poe answered him with a look of exasperated disbelief.

"Our ship, Lady Halsey," Poe began. Sigurn stopped her knitting, set it aside, and gave Poe her full attention. "As you might have guessed…we came to your star system with questions. We hope you can answer them."

"Well, for starters, this is not our star system." Sigurn replied. The twins stood beside their mother and smiled at him. "This is the realm of the Lady Himari. Our protector."

"Is she a Jedi Master? I've never seen anyone as powerful as her in the galaxy."

"Technically, she's not a Jedi. But she is Force Sensitive and a Force User. The reason why she is so powerful is that she is also master of another power that enables her to hide her workings with the Force. In the old days, she would be called a 'Grey Jedi''.

Chewbacca nodded impressively. "I have heard of those. But I've never seen anyone with that kind of control."

Poe couldn't believe his ears. "But that's impossible. The Force controls everything, every single life form in the known universe. How can there be other forces outside it?"

Sigurn chuckled. "The Jedi don't know and control everything, Commander. The fact that the Lady Himari doesn't use the Force is part of the reason why you are still alive. The Sith Knights of Ren cannot trace you here. They cannot see you while you are under her mantle. This is the safest place you can ever be, much safer than those makeshift, outdated piles of old metal you call ships." Chewbacca moaned in protest, and Poe felt a hot rush of anger at her words.

"Mother!" Yvaine scolded. Sigurn rolled her eyes at her daughter. "That was uncalled for!"

"Rey fixed most of those ships, mother. Be nice!" Tom said.

Poe raised an eyebrow at them, his curiousity piqued at the mention of Rey. "You know her?"

Tom nodded. "The last Jedi. We've also been looking for her ever since you lost her in Myrra."

Yvaine grinned. "We know you love her. You can't stop thinking about her."

Poe gritted his teeth. "I didn't lose her. And I don't…"

"Love her?" Tom protested. "But you do! Your mind is literally an open book! You—"

"Tom!" Sigurn rebuked him. "How many times have I told you not to read other people's minds without their permission!"

"But he's thinking about lying about Rey!"

"Rey will love you, Commander Dameron. Don't worry," Yvaine earnestly pleaded to Poe. The twins really didn't want him to lie about his feelings for Rey, Poe thought. _They love her too, as the sister they never had_. Poe was mesmerized by Yvaine as her eyes widened, and a series of images involving him and Rey shimmered on the surface of her irises. "She has never doubted that you are faithful to her."

Poe paled, half in fear and in shock. "What—"

"She can see the future. Or, at least, the possibilities of the future," Sigurn informed him and Chewie. "It's one of her gifts."

"And you DID lose her," Tom insisted snarkily, pedantically. "If you had held on to her, Bacchus Ren would never have been able to tesser her."

"She was abducted in the same way that you …tessered…me here." Poe shivered as he remembered the way he'd been folded through space and time into a single point, then stretched into an infinite length to be able to fit into travelling by the speed of light without the aid of a star ship. "And please don't do that again to me, by the way."

"Pilots," Sigurn grumbled.

"The General believes that if we find her, we can find the entire order of the Knights of Ren," Chewbacca informed the Halseys. "And recently, we received information from Maz Kanata that a hermit travelled to this star system with information about how to find them."

The twins glanced at each other and burst out laughing. Sigurn immediately shushed them.

"Hermit. Right," Sigurn said exasperatedly. "That was Yvaine. They were tasked to plant this information so that we can reel you in. I'm sorry, they can be too dramatic sometimes with how they design their astral projections. We can take you to her and the Knights of Ren. But we prefer if all of us can just extract her without causing a lot of trouble to the Sith."

"I looked like a hermit because of my cowl?" Yvaine trilled.

"Everyone looks like a hermit if they wear a cowl," Tom whined.

"So is it a yes or a no? Commander?" Sigurn asked.

Poe narrowed his eyes at Sigurn. The determined glint in her blue eyes and the jut of her jaw told her that rescuing Rey was necessary to them. The twins were also alert for his answer. All three couldn't see how strange it all was: their volunteering to provide all the information that the rebels had come here to seek, without any other condition.

"You're…hesitating?" Yvaine observed. A pained look shivered in her bright blue eyes.

"He's figuring out if there's a catch," Tom said, crossing his arms.

Poe gave them a suspicious look. "You have hidden away from the Rebellion for so long. You have to know why we ought to be so suspicious that you'd give your aid…so freely."

"But…we're rescuing Rey," Yvaine moaned.

"We have never met you before!" Poe reasoned. "How do YOU, all three of you, know Rey?"

The twins looked at each other nervously, then at their mother. Sigurn steadily glared at Poe, her blue eyes blazing.

"If you're worried that we will force to be somewhere else against her will, don't be," Sigurn replied. "Her path forks into three directions when she is finally freed from Kylo Ren. Only she can make the choice."

Poe chuckled. This family, and the mysterious Lady Himari who had still not shown up, were definitely hiding something. "That's not an answer at all."

Chewbacca finished the last of his s'mores, stood up and placed his hand on Poe's shoulder. "Thank you for your hospitality, my Lady. We'd like to return to our ship, please."

"You can't go now," Yvaine reproached them. "There's a storm outside. We don't know how to tesser yet in wet weather and…we cooked dinner!" Tom scrunched up his face, trying very hard not to cry. Sigurn rolled her eyes and went to the far side of the room, where there was a bar filled with exquisitely-shaped bottles filled with luminous liquid. She took a glass, poured a shot from the nearest decanter, and drank it in one gulp.

Poe ruffled Tom's hair, and bowed before Yvaine. He intended to only glance down into her strange blue eyes for a moment, but he felt himself ensnared into their depths again. Yvaine pouted at him, and Poe felt an ominous chill prickling at his nape and traveling down to his fingertips. The last time he had felt like this had been when he was six years old, touching the Force tree in his parents' backyard, and knowing that he was going to be a Resistance pilot like his parents. He suddenly saw himself slightly aged, with silver hair at his temples, and wearing the robes of a Resistance General. Yvaine was grown, a stern young woman with deep blue, almost-black eyes, dressed in the orange jumpsuit of a Resistance pilot. Behind her walked a smiling teenaged boy with black riotous curls and his mother Shara Bey's cheekbones. He was dressed as part of the maintenance crew for the aircraft. He ran to Poe, they embraced, and the boy looked up at him with Rey's smile. Poe gasped at the vision, as if someone had suddenly tore out his lungs from behind.

"What are you?" he asked Yvaine. Tom put up his arm across his sister protectively. "What—what did I just see?"

"I told you," Yvaine whispered behind her brother's snarling face. "In the future, sooner than you think, Rey will be with you. And you saw Kai." Yvaine paused, as if she would regret what she was going to say next. "Your son."

"Whoah," Chewbacca growled.

"Is this a joke?" Poe angrily burst out at Sigurn, who was glaring in shock at Yvaine and looked ready to strike her. Tom placed himself in front of the scared Yvaine, glowering at Poe and Chewbacca, warily watching for what his mother would do next. "You'd say anything, do anything, just to trick us into helping you!"

"She never lies. And this is not a trick," Tom shouted back at Poe.

"But it's not the entire truth either," Sigurn said. Carrying a glass refilled with liquid swirling with luminous colors, she stood in front of Poe. She held out her free hand to her children, and they both grasped it as they hid behind their mother, peeking at Poe and Chewie nervously.

"As I said, Yvaine can see the immediate possibilities of the future. But they are not yet set in the timeline of one's life," Sigurn explained. "She saw one of the certainties that could happen. There are three, you see, for Rey. The future where she is your wife and she bears you a son, Kai. Another where she is Kylo Ren's Queen, and the balance of the Force has been perverted to mean an unholy marriage between the last Jedi and leader of the Sith. And the third where she is none of the two, where she seeks her own path after having turned away from the Force, away from you, her friends, away from Kylo Ren."

Poe and Chewbacca listened with horror and fascination, and glanced at Yvaine, whose eyes were already brimming with tears.

"And I suppose, you, your family, want her to make this third choice. Away from the Rebellion and the Sith. Hiding away in this uncharted star system: a group of extremely powerful Force Users who don't have the courage to pick and fight for a side." Poe closed his eyes and remembered Yvaine's vision again. Around Kai's neck had been his titanium chain weighed under his shirt by a piece of jewelry. That would be the ring that Shara Bey had given to Poe, meant to be passed on to whomever Kai would choose as his spouse. Poe took a deep breath and tried to keep his voice steady. "A future where she would still be alive." Poe sat down at the nearest chair and buried his face in his hands.

"That future is still not set," Sigurn repeated quietly. She reached out and placed a hand on Poe's shoulder. He immediately felt a rush of hope and comfort, a surge of strength and resolve firming in his mind. He looked up at her in surprise.

"I heal," Sigurn said, smiling down at him sadly. "Both body and the soul. And to answer your question, I hid because if the Sith had gotten to me, they would find the secret to immortality. When I was pregnant with my children, I had to fake my death to escape the numerous attempts to capture me and harvest my powers. The decision became permanent when my children's powers became manifest, the second that they were born. I couldn't let the Sith get his hands on them."

"Nor the Jedi," Poe said bitterly. "Who could have helped you, protected you. With your powers, there would not have been any First Order, and Luke Skywalker would still have been alive."

"The Jedi have ceased to be who they were created to be ever since Kylo Ren destroyed their academy. There was simply no one to nurture and teach my children of the ways to control their gifts."

"And you think that, like you, Rey would hide, keep her powers dormant, when she could use them to save her friends and the galaxy from the First Order and the Knights of Ren?" Poe smirked bitterly. "Clearly, you don't know her at all. Despite your daughter's premonitions."

Tom frowned at Poe in confusion, and was about to say something in defense of Yvaine's visions, but his mother cut him off, her eyes never leaving Poe's, her face still and calm, but simmering underneath was a raging anger. Poe knew a poker face when he saw one, and he couldn't help smiling at Sigurn's icy tenacity. _Okay then, keep your secrets,_ he thought. _All will be revealed when we finally have Rey back._

"We apologize for our discourtesy, Lady Sigurn," Chewbacca finally said in Wookie, when Poe and Sigurn continued glowering at each other for a few more seconds. "Especially to the Lady Himari, wherever she is. We appreciate any assistance you can give us in locating the Knights of Ren, and of course, Rey." He pulled Poe to his feet. "But we cannot intrude on your hospitality any longer."

Sigurn stood up and answered Chewie while walking towards the door, "The Lady Himari disabled all your beacons and electronic systems. You can try leaving, but I doubt you know how to swim that well back to your ship." She smiled at them before leaving, as her children walked out of the room with her. Yvaine gave Poe one last guilty glance. "Dinner's at seven in our dining hall, if you're interested."

Chewie sighed in disappointment and softly chucked Poe in the head after Sigurn and the twins left the room. "Look what you did," he chided the pilot.

"We can leave, can we?" Poe complained.

"Idiot," Chewbacca grumbled. "Don't you even know where we are?" He cocked his head to the direction of the doors that opened into the balcony. Poe rushed out of them to see that they were in a rundown castle atop a cliff, surrounded on all sides by foaming ocean waves. The sighing sounds around them were from a thick forest of pines and other old trees swaying in the gales of wind brought by a slight typhoon. Poe peered into the evening horizon, and in the scarce moonlight he could see a lonely spire several kilometers from their island. He could make out the faint outline of the Millenium Falcon perched on the grass, silhouetted against an opal white full moon. Sigurn was right. One had to be a strong swimmer to be able to reach that far.

"Fuck," Poe swore softly.

...

As she rinsed and dried herself, Rey heard Kylo's soft voice issuing instructions from inside her bedroom. She came out of the bath, dressed in a plummy bathrobe, to find Kylo fully clothed in his inky black robes, his pale face staring earnestly at the hologram of a masked Theo Ren. Theo was reporting that he was heading out to hunt for the Millenium Falcon that had just come from one of Maz Kanata's trading posts. They had intercepted encrypted Resistance messages calling out for its allies to provide information on the ship's whereabouts, and a reply from Maz Kanata's last known location reporting that it had been heading for an unknown star system before its disappearance.

"Any information on who is aboard this craft?" Kylo asked.

"The Wookie general Chewbacca, my lord. And an unknown pilot. They were seen talking to the trader Maz Kanata roughly three days ago."

 _Poe_ , Rey thought. She knew Chewbacca wouldn't trust anyone else to fly Han Solo's ship. Kylo's grim, brooding stance showed Rey that he was having doubts about letting Theo go after the Millenium Falcon on his own, without any backup from the other Knights of Ren.

"See if you can capture them alive, Theo," Kylo instructed. "Any data about what, or who, they were looking for?"

"Most likely the location of our ship, My Lord. Bacchus has received intel that Rebellion forces are amassing a fleet of bombing and gunner ships, in preparation for an onslaught."

"They'll be facing a massacre," Kylo told him. He nodded to the hologram. "Thank you. Keep me updated."

"Very good, my Lord." Theo's hologram flickered out. Kylo leaned back on Rey's bed, propping his weight on his elbows. He raised his head to the ceiling and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. Rey sat next to him in the bed, and without thinking, bent down and kissed him on the lips. Kylo slowly opened his eyes and leaned forward to Rey, eagerly deepening their kiss.

Rey pushed him back to the bed, and he slipped his hands to the curve of her neck and under her robe to the base of her spine. His lips broke their kiss and travelled over the line of her jaw, her long neck.

Kylo drew in a deep, shivery breath as Rey's robe parted on its own and his eyes flicked to her breasts and the delicate lines of her naked shoulders and shoulder blades. He was getting dizzy as he breathed in the subtle fragrance of sweet pea blossom that was being released by the rush of warmth flooding her pale, smooth skin.

"I have to go," Kylo whispered to Rey's ear. He sat up, supporting her weight with his hand on her spine, and he almost lost control when he realized that Rey had sat spread eagled on top of him, her long bare legs enticingly wrapped around his waist.

Kylo gently nipped the curve of Rey's ear with his teeth, and Rey ground the dampening folds of her vagina against his crotch. "I'll see you tonight," he said. He kissed her long and deeply for the last time before he gently set her down on the bed. To Rey's surprise, he smiled at her: a happy, infatuated smile that took Rey's breath away and made her want to pull him back to the bed and fuck him senseless.

But it was a new day, and she had hours ahead to prepare for the farewell banquet that Kylo was preparing to honor the remaining Knights of Ren. And minutes before, in the bath, Rey had discovered that she could activate her Force powers while being submerged underwater.

She finally had a viable escape plan.

...

Marcus woke up two hours before sunrise, groggy and grumpy from his drug-induced sleep. His long limbs felt cramped from spending the evening in a cushioned ledge by the wall of diamond-hard glass that served as his window. He pulled himself up, and his eyes adjusted to the gigantic bed across the room: Leo's, at least for the night before, and it was piled as usual with the three or four nubile bodies of slumbering female stormtroopers that his brother had sex with hours before. Leo's dark green hair peeked out from the spread thighs, breasts and flurry of naked arms and legs. In an hour or so, they would have to get ready to escort Kylo Ren. But the loud volume of Leo's rumbling snore told Marcus that his twin was still deeply asleep, and he didn't want to deprive him of such luxury. After tonight's events, a few hours' rest would become a rare treat. They will be sent off to the outer rims of the First Order territories again, protecting bases and outposts against the multitudes of rebels that always threatened the iron hand of their Order.

Sleep still tugged heavily down Marcus' eyelids, making him yawn, tempting him to sink back down among his pillows, and he had to will himself to wake up, stand up, and be awake. Marcus could still feel the debilitating effects of the sleeping draught that Bacchus had made him drink last night. It numbed the midichlorians in his bloodstream, preventing him from using his Force powers, but he had no choice but to depend on this if he was ever going to have any sleep. Without these chemicals blocking the parts of his brain that made him dream, he would be imprisoned in recurring memory-nightmares from his past. Even Bacchus, highly trained as he was in the healing arts, could not permanently cure him. But because of years and years of medication, Marcus suspected that his body was building a resistance to Marcus' daily concoctions. Bacchus refused to up the dosage of his draughts, bluntly telling Marcus that any higher, and the chemical compounds that made him sleep would outright kill him.

 _Five, four, three, two one,_ Marcus mentally counted the seconds for the medical draughts to lose their effect, and right on schedule, he felt the mind-blowing high of his Force sensitivity rushing through every nerve and vein under his skin, to the tips of his fingertips, toes and hair follicles. Marcus gasped out loud, his eyes rolling up his sockets, and he swayed backwards, but the thin thread of self-control he still retained at the back of his mind pushed him to step back and throw his arms wide to balance himself. Marcus gritted his teeth to control the overwhelming, intensely painful barrage of sensations from the reactivation of his Force sensitivity. When he could finally whip and order the surge of thoughts, feelings and sensory impressions into ordered lanes in his mind, Marcus straightened up and massaged the crook of his neck. When he opened his eyes, his vision brought a fuzzy kaleidoscope of swirling colors and shapes with no discernible edges. Fuck, he thought. Bacchus must have juiced more than usual without telling me first. Marcus stared ahead, dazed, waiting but slightly panicking as his eyesight was slightly out of focus even as he opened his eyelids as wide as he could. He saw the blurry figure of his brother Leo jump up from the heaving pile of naked bodies on his bed, and rush towards him. He felt long and strong fingers carefully cradling his face. Marcus's vision finally readjusted and Leo's anxious, half-frightened face veered into focus.

"You should've waken me, brother," Leo reproached him. Marcus shrugged, and Leo embraced him tightly. Marcus patted his brother's naked shoulder to reassure him that he was fine. He then caught a whiff of the scent of musty sweat, dried sperm and female essences emanating from his brother's skin. He coughed in disgust and pushed him off right away. Leo stared at him in exasperation.

"I thought you were about to have a seizure again," Leo griped.

"I'm using your shower," Marcus told him, walking towards the door. He sniffed disapprovingly as Leo's lovers started waking up and moaning for him to return to bed. "The next time you have an orgy, could you please do it in your own chambers?"

"You have a bigger bed! Made of silk too!" Leo's voice echoed after Marcus closed the door. He straightened his spine and whipped his head to the right to eliminate the crick in his neck. He quickly started made his way down the hall to his brother's bedroom to get away from the impressions of Leo and his lovers having giggly morning sex, which were already seeping from the door and intruding unwelcomingly into Marcus' mind.

"'You have the biggest bed in the Order, even larger than Kylo's,'" Marcus muttered in a falsetto voice what Vittoria had once bitterly said to him as he opened the door to his brother's messy bedroom. He carefully made his way through piles of gleaming treasure and discarded black clothes, to the black-onyx-studded, black marble bathroom. "'A virgin hermit like you, wouldn't even look twice on a naked woman with four breasts, a vagina and two penises. What do you want a bed that big for?'"

"For rest!" Marcus answered the nagging image of Vittoria in his mind after he stripped off his clothes and turned on Leo's shower. "For sleep!" Marcus sighed and closed his eyes to the stream of hot water gushing on his face as he remembered a pair of beautiful green eyes and long brown hair first set in an intriguing row of triple buns, then a single half-ponytail. _It used to be, anyway,_ he thought as he smiled bitterly at his memories of his Master's prisoner, Rey, the scavenger from Jakku who turned out to be Luke Skywalker's last surviving apprentice. _Now it's just used for daydreaming._

Guiltily, he opened and extended his mind to the farthest reaches of the ship until he reached the swelling, pulsating Ysalamari barrier that covered Rey's chambers. He still could not penetrate through it, but to his surprise, he saw a faint outline of Rey's life energy, silhouetted but moving and going about in her activities. She was sitting on her bath, her knees drawn up in front of her, and she held out a hand to her side, took a deep breath, and suddenly, a small explosion of energy lit up from her palm and rippled against the barrier, thinning it. Rey looked up, smiling at the places where the barrier was thinning, and immediately closed her palm. To Marcus' surprise, she turned to his direction and stared at him directly, her green eyes wide in fascination and fear.

Marcus tipped his head back and immediately cut off his connection to the Force. Ever since he had seen her first through Bacchus' memories, he had known that Rey was a powerful Force User. The levels of her untapped, untrained powers were nothing he had ever encountered or known before. _Well,_ Marcus thought pedantically. _Not since his younger sister Himari anyway._ Only Kylo Ren had come close, and his powers, like all of the Knights' of Ren, were induced and had been carefully sustained through years of long, uncompromising training and meditation. Rey did not need such meticulous maintenance. She was a fount of raw Force energies and Rey had accidentally opened a gateway to her abilities when the Supreme Leader invaded her mind and she had fought back. It was a miracle that she had not gone insane. _Or killed herself_ , Marcus concluded bitterly, remembering the brutal demise of his younger sister.

Marcus knew that he should tell the Supreme Leader or the Spymaster that Rey was beginning to bear down on the Force-neutralizing powers of the Ysalamiri crystals. That her escape could end them all, and that their combined strengths were not a match anymore for her ever-increasing Force capabilities. Marcus opened his eyes and looked up.

 _If she escapes, she will need a protector,_ Marcus decided. With this resolve, he finished his shower, dried himself with the nearest clean towel he could reach and returned to his brother's bedroom to search for clean robes.

...

Poe could not sleep during his first night as a guest in the Halseys' castle. After a sumptuous dinner with the twins and Sigurn in their "dining hall", which was only a rectangular room lit on both sides by thick glass windows, bunches of fragrant lavender and rosemary hanging from the ceiling, and a long rectangular table of smoothened maple wood. The twins teased and exchanged banter with Chewbacca, while Poe remained quiet and brooding. He knew that they were watching him becoming anxious that their protector, Lady Himari, still had not shown up. But Sigurn only stared at him smugly, hiding her smiles behind the goblets of wine that she drank, and the twins were struggling and restrained only by their mother's stern glances to keep it a secret for a few more hours. When Poe and Chewbacca finally retired for the night, Poe left Chewbacca snoring by the fireplace and he went out to the balcony, staring at the sea, trying to rid himself of his thoughts and anxieties about Rey, but being unable to do so.

"She'll be alright," a tiny voice spoke next to him. "She has a will as strong and enduring as your mother's titanium ring." Poe turned and saw a solemn-faced child standing next to him in the balustrade, her face also turned towards the full moon traveling along the edge of the sea. She turned to him, and he saw in horror that her eye sockets were empty and shadowed, save for healed wounds that puckered and folded where her eyeballs must have been torn off. There was a faint, curving slash on her smooth forehead. She was dressed in simple woolen robes, of the same kind that Sigurn wore. Her dark auburn hair rippled in half-braids and waves down her back. She smiled at him, and said hesitantly, "Don't be afraid of me. Please."

"I'm not," Poe answered, stirring himself out of his shock and remembering his manners. "My Lady Himari." He made a small bow, and Himari elegantly curtsied back. Poe was filled with a seething, hot rage at the monster who had done such brutal injuries on a child, and he could see from the delicate planes of her face and her full generous smile that she would have grown up to be a beauty.

Himari laughed, as if she could discern what he was thinking. "I'm roughly the same age as you. But unfortunately, I age in reverse."

Poe's eyebrows shot up, and his mouth dropped open in wonder. "Sorry?"

She held out her hands apologetically. "I…age in reverse. Well, maybe 'age' is a bit misleading. Because of my powers I was born as an old woman, and will die as a toddler or an infant. Depending on the circumstances." Himari smirked, as if she was remembering something amusing. "One of the possibilities of my death as Yvaine had seen it was being killed while in diapers, looking like a seven-month old baby, by a clueless Leo Ren. I regretted my answer then: laughing as if it was the funniest thing in the world, and I made her cry for the next four days."

Poe leaned back against the ledge for support, gawking at Himari. Her low, clear voice sounded that of a child who was twelve or eleven years old, and it was oddly comforting among the soft sounds of the trees and waves soughing in the background.

"My brother wounded my eyes with a lightsaber as he tried to save me from Snoke. I escaped with Sigurn, but the Supreme Leader Snoke had already corrupted my siblings' minds, telling them Master Luke had killed me for the same reason that he tried to kill Ben: because he feared and resented my power. But it had been Master Luke who healed me, trained me. Tamed the recurring memories of my brothers and our past. Kept me from killing myself."

"Your brothers?"

"The twin lords of the Knights of Ren: Leo and Marcus Souka."

Poe gave her a blank look of shock. Himari wrinkled her eyebrows at him in disbelief.

"You HAVE seen them? No? They're not just twins, you know: we three were born on the same day. We all look alike, except for my hair, which was my mother's color, while Leo and Marcus got our father's forest green tresses."

"They are masked the entire time, My Lady. For maximum terror effect when killing entire villages or committing genocides on orders from Kylo Ren."

Himari shrugged. "Well, that's a pity. Because they are both devastatingly handsome."

"They have destroyed countless planets and billions of innocent lives for the last ten years."

Himari glared at him. "They were all manipulated by Snoke."

"And tolerated, enabled, empowered by your inaction and silence," Poe accused. Himari tightened her lips in response. "Just like Master Luke. Sigurn. The twins."

"Don't presume to understand Luke Skywalker's reasons for hiding away. Nor Sigurn's need to protect her children from the Sith."

"I will never understand, and I won't try." Poe turned from her and gazed into the distance bitterly. He knew that his next words were unfair and uncalled for, but he could not help himself. There was truly nobody to rail against the unfairness of it all, but he couldn't help himself in front of this unbelievably powerful being, this source of power, who could have saved hundreds of lives during his time in the Rebellion. "Whatever your reasons were, all I can see, all my peers and companions would see, are simple cowardice and apathy from the people who could have made a difference."

"And you think we are heartless cowards for not volunteering for your cause?"

"I've never met anyone who could control the seasons of a planet and maneuver a ship several light years away from its destination," Poe said earnestly. "Not even the Knights of Ren, or any of the Jedi I've seen, were that powerful."

Himari sighed and shook her head. "That is because my powers, as you call it, are not of the Force. And I try to use them sparingly because they accelerate my aging." She groaned in impatience. "Why would I want a simple pilot like you to understand?"

"The reason why you want to help the rebellion also evades us, my Lady."

"Then hear me. Let us plead our case to you." Himari walked up to Poe, and took his rough hands in her own. She smiled as soon as she felt their warmth, and steady, generous strength. "Yes. I can see your spirit. You are exactly the kind of hero we need to save Rey."

"My friends would say that Rey needs no rescuer. That she can take care of herself."

Himari's smile widened to show a row of pearly white baby teeth. "Yes, and she would think so too. But she doesn't know herself so well, or else, she would not have fallen so deeply and unerringly for Leia and Han Solo's son."

Poe felt a heaviness tighten the center of his chest at these words, but he was relieved that he could get past his feelings of jealousy and possessiveness so easily. Rey had taught him that real love was based on friendship, and before he fell in love with her, they had been good friends, along with Finn and Rose. He could not ignore the urgency that Rey still needed his help, somehow, and that he still had a mission to fulfill for the rebels. He mentally swept aside his feelings of hurt, swallowed hard to distract himself from them, and concentrated on fulfilling his task.

"Rey is the equal in the Light to the rise of the powers of the Sith represented by the Knights of Ren and their Supreme Leader, Kylo Ren. We have no business to take a side, but we cannot allow Kylo Ren to take Rey as his wife and convert her to the Dark Side. The Sith will hunt us down, and I cannot protect the Halseys forever."

"Tell us how we can help you."

"Actually it starts with you helping me." Himari took a step back and held out a slender, upturned palm. "We lost our connection to Rey a few days ago. We have tried to reach out to her again, but even the twins' powers are not yet that strong. I need a token of hers to scan the reaches of the Force. Something that belongs to her." Himari paused dramatically. "Or ought to."

Poe immediately thought of his ring, which he had intended to give to Rey on their first evening together in the forests of Myrra. But she had not yet accepted it. Poe had nothing else to give Himari and wondered if Chewbacca had any possessions from Rey back in the Millenium Falcon.

"You need not disturb the good Wookie's sleep," Himari interrupted his chain of thought. "The ring will suffice. It will be hers anyway, when the time comes."

Poe took off his titanium chain, took one last look at his mother's ring, and silently gave it to Himari.

"Give me two days."

...

Leo watched Marcus enter the First Order training hall. Instead of with a smile, Marcus nodded to him, and Leo wondered at his guarded expression. Leo reached out to him with his mind, and found his twin's mental defenses raised up, blocking him. Marcus was deep in thought, obviously planning something in his head. Leo's eyes were quick to discern the reason why when Marcus looked up and solemnly stared at Rey, who had just entered the vast room with Rebecca on her side.

 _The bloody idiot,_ Leo thought in mild shock. _Of all the women in this fucking galaxy._

Minutes ticked by, and there was still no sign of Kylo Ren. The twins waited for their Master, and observed Rebecca and Rey who had started practice sparring with wooden swords in the battle ring beside theirs.

Leo glowered at Rey, observing her unconsciously elegant movements, the brutally efficient way she distributed her strength in her blows, often causing the usually dominant Rebecca to parry her attacks on the defensive. _Can't blame him, I suppose,_ he thought with mild suspicion. Rey was indeed beautiful, and her powers, still unplumbed and their limits still unknown, were fascinating. She was also a genuinely nice, wholesome, generous person who made their leader laugh and the nastiest member of their group, Alice Ren, eat dust in defeat. She smiled at them openly and treated them as their equals. She had even reached out to Theo, who had been broken and disturbed by the shadows of his past for years. Theo had spoken to Rey for only three minutes, and he had gone to his mission to hunt the renegade pilot Poe Dameron with a heart leeched out of darkness and pain, and filled only now with hope and purpose. Hers was a healing, uplifting presence in their Order. _She would be a fantastic queen_ , Leo concluded, _and someone worth fighting for._

Still, she was meant to be their QUEEN, consort to their LORD Kylo Ren, who wouldn't hesitate to commit murder if anyone ever entertained any improper intentions towards his future wife. Leo wondered if Bacchus was being remiss in preparing the medical sleeping draughts for Marcus, and whether the chemicals had finally loosed some screws in his twin brother's head.

Still, there was the possibility that for the first time in his life, Marcus could finally, possibly, falling in love. He had been alone for so long, and Leo felt guilty for not feeling more supportive. For as long as he'd known him, Leo had never figured out where his brother's romantic preferences lie. He always seemed like he was waiting for something, or someone, even when Leo forced his women (and sometimes, men) on him and urged him to lie with them. Leo had intruded on Marcus' mind for countless times, and knew that Marcus did not know the answer as well. Until this morning, it seems, Leo thought sardonically, in that small window of time when Marcus had left Leo in his chambers and had his toilette in Leo's bathroom. Maybe he sensed something in Rey. Maybe all this just wasn't romantically related at all.

Leo bided his time, and waited until Rebecca struck a blow towards Rey, forcing the latter to put up a defense, before he surged into her mind in an effort to skim her surface thoughts. To his horror, as she raised her sword to block Rebecca's attack, Rey turned a panic-stricken glance to Leo and instinctively raised her arm, clenching her fingers, and Leo was suddenly raised two feet in the air, his throat forcibly constricted. NO, Rey's voice spoke loudly and clearly in his mind, as he choked and struggled for air. He felt a surge of Force energy knock back Rey's attack, and Leo was released and pushed to the floor, coughing and gasping for breath.

Kylo Ren strode in, lowering his arm. He then turned towards Rey and Rebecca, the latter scrambling to the side of the battle ring, bowing low in fear, as Rey stood her ground, matching Kylo's furious stare with her own calm and defiant gaze.

"How?" Kylo snarled at her.

"You should ask that of Leo. I thought you were the only one who can use the Force inside this space."

"He learned the hard way months ago. And so did Marcus, but the others…And you-!" Kylo growled in disbelief.

"It was all so sudden. I would not have done it if I didn't feel my mind was being invaded."

Kylo glanced at Leo reproachfully. Leo swept his gaze to the side to the direction of his brother, who narrowed his eyes at him in exasperation.

 _Fool,_ Marcus hissed at him in their minds, his voice dripping with disgust. _What were you trying to do?_

Leo glared at his brother. _I don't know what you're hiding on your side of the woods, brother._ He replied. _But I will find out._

"That will be the last time anyone of my knights will attempt it, I assure you," Kylo said to Rey.

"I apologize," Rey said. Leo found her staring at him, and he accepted her words with a bow. "It was solely my fault, my lady," he answered. "Please also accept my sincere apologies."

Rey nodded and smiled briefly at him. Kylo watched her and Leo during this exchange, and slightly raised his eyebrows at Leo, who glanced down again apologetically. When he looked up, Kylo already had his hand on the base on Rey's spine, whispering something to her. Rey shrugged and pulled away from his embrace. Kylo's nostrils flared and his lips tightened impatiently. Rey relented, and finally raised herself on her tiptoes to plant a soft kiss on the corner of Kylo's lips.

Leo peered at his brother, but Marcus was staring at the tender scene steadily. Without looking at him, Marcus spoke to Leo's mind, _Fuck off._

Leo exhaled impatiently and mentally shook his head at Marcus. He felt someone quietly walk to his side from the far side of the training hall, and discovered that it was Bacchus. He was also staring at Kylo and Rey with a faint curiosity, his arms folded across his chest.

"Your brother knows something," the Spymaster said.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Leo lied to him.

"No matter. Tell Marcus that she doesn't need any protection. WE might be the ones who'll be forced to pool our strengths. Against her attack."

Leo raised an eyebrow at the small, slender figure of Rey sparring with the taller, stronger Rebecca. "She can't be THAT strong, against all of us."

Bacchus sighed. "Theo's gone off to hunt for that pilot." Leo swore under his breath. "Full alert, now. Tell your brother," Bacchus murmured before he walked ahead to bow and appear before Kylo Ren.

 _Heard all that, didn't you?_ Leo called out to Marcus.

 _Yes._ Leo felt his twin finally relaxing, and disintegrating the barriers in his mind. _I'm sorry._ Marcus sighed to his brother. _I was…well._

 _Mental._

Marcus shrugged. _It won't be the last time._

Rey and Rebecca went back to practicing their sword-fighting, and Kylo smiled brightly at Bacchus standing in front of Leo. "Well, well," he said. "Care to have a practice bout, Bacchus?"

"I'm here on official business, my Lord."

"Nothing wrong with sparing ten minutes, is there?"

Bacchus took a deep breath as Leo amusedly handed him a lightsaber. He gritted his teeth when he saw that it was a staff. Bacchus hated combat; he had not been ordained as a Knight of Ren because of his martial arts, but Kylo and the twins always enjoyed taking a rise on him by forcing him to undergo practice bouts.

He sighed exasperatedly as he saw the Souka twins and Kylo Ren circling him, intending to fight him in a three-against-one battle. "Oh come on!" he complained. But he switched on his weapon immediately when he saw the twins charging to attack him from his front and rear, and Kylo surging forward to aim for his midsection.

Rey and Rebecca stopped their workout, as Bacchus' clipped, patrician voice exhaled grunts and shouts as he fended off attacks and tried his best to fling his own blows. They watched him being kicked at the back, shoved forward and almost choked, but he always managed to wrestle his way out of his attacker's grips, only to be on alert again for an incoming charge. In the end, the Souka twins forced him to detach his light saber staff into separate blades by attacking him concurrently on two sides. Kylo swept his legs away, and Bacchus was forced to kneel while still holding on against the twins, but Kylo held the burning end of his cross guard light saber at the center of Bacchus' chest.

"You've improved, brother," Kylo brightly remarked. The Souka twins were also smiling down at him approvingly.

"Please let me go now," Bacchus begged.

The twins switched off their sabers and helped him stand up to his feet. Kylo briefly leaned his forehead against Bacchus' before pulling back and rubbing his carefully-combed blue hair askew.

"Now that was fun, wasn't it, lord Spymaster?" Marcus laughed.

"Invigorating," Bacchus groaned, as he reached backwards to rub the sore spot where Kylo had kicked him savagely.

"What do you have for me?" Kylo asked. Bacchus glanced nervously at Rey, and requested that they discuss it in the Throne Room. Kylo nodded a farewell to Rey before following Bacchus and the twins out of the hall.

"They do bully him so terribly," Rebecca commented, as she and Rey watched the men leave. "Especially when we have guests."

"Guests?"

"Oh you know. Republic senators. Members of Imperial families from Sith star systems. The occasional rebel or two." Rebecca chuckled. She propped her wooden practice saber in front of her and leaned her arms into it, looking at Rey fondly. "After tonight, I will miss trailing after you like an ordinary handmaiden."

Rey laughed, beaming fondly at the former princess. She had heard stories about the atrocities committed by the Knights of Ren and Snoke, but she couldn't remember any about Rebecca Ren. She suspected that she went against the grain of a typical Sith lord, and was a fair and kind ruler to her own subjects. Perhaps because of her popularity, the territories under her control were among the more prosperous and most loyal to the Sith. "I imagine that you can't wait ruling on your fiefdom star systems again."

Rebecca shrugged nonchalantly. "Kylo and I have been trained all our lives to rule. And it is an easy task to put up a system to rule well and to ensure that your own subjects are satisfied and won't have cause to dissent. But I also love our Supreme Leader like a brother and I don't mind doting on him every now and then," Rebecca gave Rey a knowing look. "And most assuredly, his younglings too. Perhaps, a year or two from now?"

Rey blushed, and gave no answer. She knew that she ought to be panicking about the consequences of spending the night with Kylo Ren. If she wasn't already pregnant, there was no doubt that she would be in the nights that follow. Kylo would still be visiting her, night after night in her captivity, and Rey would surrender her body to him each time, her mouth slack with desire like a gutter slut as he cradled her face in his palms, her thighs open and spread under Kylo's thrusting torso. She simply could not resist and stay away from him. He was her addiction.

"Well." Rebecca gazed up at the high ceiling and then at far, empty corners of the training hall. "I shall miss this place. I have a feeling this is the last time we'll meet and see each other here. It is most assuredly useless now anyway, now that you can resist the power of the crystals and summon the Force through the barrier."

Rey sucked in her breath, and gazed at Rebecca as the latter ominously smiled. "Don't deny it," the Knight of Ren said to her.

Rey decided to ignore the warning note in Rebecca's voice. Her hands itched to summon the lightsaber hanging by Rebecca's waist, but she cleared her thoughts, and continued to loosely, nonchalantly hold her wooden practice saber. But despite Rebecca's words, Rey did not sense any malice from her; only a cautiousness and a slight tinge of hurt from the masochistic thought that Rey might be hostile, reject them, and escape. "It just happened this morning, Rebecca. It's not like I planned to be inexplicably more powerful that the only thing that could defeat you all."

Rebecca rolled her eyes and waved a hand at her dismissively. "We're friends, Rey from Jakku. No doubt you can defeat me, my sister, and the other Knights of Ren. But we'll still be friends. No matter on which sides of the battle we fall into."

"You truly believe that is possible?"

"I do. We all need these little complexities to help and enrich our lives every now and then," Rebecca laughed.

She is straight-out psychotic, Rey thought. But in a good way, I suppose. She couldn't help but giggle in response at Rebecca's infectious, full-bellied trill. Rey would miss Rebecca, too. She never thought that a member of the most evil group of people in the galaxy could be capable of having such a lighthearted sense of humour. She wondered if Rebecca had hid it for so long, all those years being commanded by someone as vile as Snoke. Rey suspected that Kylo took the full brunt of the previous Supreme Leader's perversions, to shield the other Knights of Ren.

Rebecca leaned towards Rey and wrapped her in a tight hug. "It doesn't matter to me what you do: escape, dump Kylo, or marry his ass and bear him three pairs of twins with his hair and your weird green eyes." She briefly cradled Rey's face. "I am honored to be your friend. And I hope you have not regretted being mine."

Rey smiled and hugged Rebecca back. Their practice sabers clattered to the floor. "That never crossed my mind," Rey assured her. "Your friendship will always be important to me." And to her surprise, Rey discovered that she wasn't lying about that at all.

...

Two days. Himari had asked Poe to give her that amount of time to locate Rey. Two hours into the morning of his first full day, he was already restless and antsy to be back in the Resistance base. Sigurn suggested that the twins take him krill hunting. Before Poe could protest, the twins held his arms and tessered him. He found himself falling from the sky and landing on the back of a gigantic whale breaking into the surface of the middle of an ocean. He looked up and the twins were several feet above him, flying, using the Force. They each had long nets for catching the schools of krill that the whale was hunting for his meal.

His day ended with the twins flying him back to the mossy plateau where the Millenium Falcon was still parked. Chewbacca and Sigurn were there, busily repairing and checking parts of the ship. Sigurn laughed at Poe's pale face with its greenish hue caused from spending hours alternating between seasickness and fear of being dragged underwater.

"He survived his first day, Mama!" Yvaine shouted. The Halseys took pity on him and cooked him a sumptuous dinner of roasted meats and baked sweets before he crawled to his bed and sunk into a deep, dreamless sleep.

On the second day, the Halseys left him alone, and he spent hours walking along the white sand beach that bordered the Halseys' island. Chewbacca searched for him at midday and found him sitting under the shade of a gigantic Acacia tree, eating the soft, plump meat of a cooked violet lobster. Chewbacca waited for several minutes, expecting the pilot to froth at the mouth and have a seizure from food poisoning, but Poe remained stubbornly healthy and upright, his formerly pale face now flushed tanned and rosy from the sun. Chewie handed him the lunch basket that the Halseys had prepared, and asked Poe if he had ever had a vacation since he became a pilot.

Poe took an entire minute to answer the Wookie's question, and was shocked to realize that his answer was no.

"You should pause and think about having a life outside the rebellion, you know," Chewbacca said, remembering Han Solo and the life that the latter had shared with General Leia. It had been Chewbacca who urged his best friend to retire from his smuggling career in order to raise Ben Solo and share a home with his wife. But Princess Leia had been unable to steer away from her passion in politics. Chewbacca thought that it was because like Han, Leia was unable to pause every now and then. In the end, it had already been too late to think about what was important in their lives.

"Lots of people think they will always have enough time in the future for the people who are important to them," Chewbacca said. "But before they know it, ten, twenty years have passed, and the people they love have become total strangers."

"Well, I don't have anyone special in my life. Not outside the Rebellion anyway," Poe replied, forcing out a dismissive tone, but his thoughts were again filled with Rey and the hours they had spent together. He fought off a wave of sadness and yearning for her. "No child, nor a lover; and as for myself, I have never wanted anything more in my life than to be a pilot for General Leia." _That's it,_ he told himself. _Keep telling yourself that until it becomes true again._ But that used to be true, for years and years, since he was a child. And now everything had changed, all because he had finally found someone to give his mother's ring to.

"That was what Han wanted as well. And Ben. To die as a hero in the Resistance out of love, all for her." Chewie sighed. "And look where we all are now."

Poe looked at the Wookie with pity, and was about to voice out his sympathies, when Chewbacca waved his hand out at him and did his customary shrug. "It's all in the past. It doesn't matter."

"Still," Poe ventured, a hard glint flashing in his eyes as he gazed at Chewie. "You must feel that Han's death should be avenged somehow. Kylo did kill him in cold blood."

Chewie glared at him and growled. "He died FOR his son. Because he loved him. To redeem Ben. Kylo Ren will never escape his past with his father's blood on his cross-guard saber. The guilt will tear him apart and will eventually bring him back to the Light. Whatever the fuck that means."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I helped raise that entitled little prick. I taught him right and wrong. His parents were wrong for each other from the start, but they could not stand each other being with someone else, they loved each other as if it was an addiction, a vice. And so they stayed, but they were never there for their son except when they remembered to." Chewbacca growled something in Wookie, which Poe could not understand. His tall frame was shaking in anger, and Poe wondered if he had ever shared these thoughts before to anyone. Chewbacca made a mighty effort to calm down, and continued speaking to Poe. "Ben is the person that he is right now because his parents were never there for him when he needed them the most. Don't ever forget that, Commander. The next time you and your rebels think about condemning or shaming Rey for whatever choices she is making right now, especially if she starts to love my godson, all of you have nothing to blame but the past, and that is just as futile as trying to reach the moon with nothing but a two-wheeled bicycle."

Chewbacca patted Poe on the shoulder and started trudging back to Yvaine's castle. Poe stared at him, confused but a little enlightened.

"Hey, I CAN reach the moon with just a bicycle! You just wait!" he called out.

Chewbacca gave him a wave, but did not look back or stop walking back to the castle.

Poe stared at the ocean, and then stripped off his pilot's garb until he was clothed only in his boxer shorts. He spent the rest of the afternoon swimming among the waves and being befriended by a school of dolphins, who coaxed him into diving several feet underwater, leading him into a submerged temple, its columns and statues of forgotten Jedi masters covered with gigantic weeds and schools of underwater creatures. The dolphins swam around him, gently nudging their snouts on his cheeks as if they were kissing him, and Poe realized that this somehow enabled him to breathe underwater. Hours later, when he finally pulled himself back to the surface, the Halsey twins were waving to him from the shore, calling him to go back for dinner. Poe looked up and saw that the sky was streaked with the shades of a breathtaking sunset darkening into a cool, purple evening.

He told the twins of what he had seen underwater, and he was surprised that they listened to him in rapt wonder. They told him that their mother had forbidden them to go to the sea because of a monster that lived under the waves. They asked for his help in asking their mom permission to visit the Jedi temple in the morning, and Poe promised that he would.

When they got back to the castle, Sigurn and Chewbacca were standing behind Himari, who sat with a bowed head in the big chair by the fireplace. On her upturned palm was Poe's ring. Poe saw that the scar on Himari's head had opened; when he walked closer to her, it shivered, and he almost shrieked out loud as a large black eye gazed up at him from inside the scar. The twins rushed from behind him to hug Himari, who smiled and kissed them on the cheeks. Her third eye continued peering unblinkingly at Poe.

"Good evening Lady Himari," Poe muttered. "And, erm…eye." Himari chuckled, and Sigurn told Poe of what Himari had found out.

"We've found the First Order ship where Rey is being held. And, as you suspected, all of the Knights of Ren were there. They will be staying for one more day and a night before they will be scattered once again to the far reaches of the empire."

"And you know this…how?"

"Rey. Her mind has been open to us since she found us on her own after Luke Skywalker died. We were closed off when Kylo Ren captured her. Somehow, she found a way to get past the barriers they've put up. It's only a matter of time before she will be found out."

Poe and Chewbacca exchanged panicked looks. The wookie growled, "What's your plan?"

...

Marcus gazed at the Supreme Leader as the Spymaster finished his report on his analysis of the diminishing powers of the Ysalamiri and Sith crystals that were supposed to neutralize and contain Rey's powers. Kylo leaned back on his throne and gazed at the ceiling, his face impassive, calm, and curiously free of the tics and shivers that usually betrayed his inner emotions. _He seems to have expected it, and accepted it._ Marcus thought. _He doesn't want to control her, outclass her, or be her equal._ For the first time since he had met Kylo Ren, when he had still been Ben and not the Sith overlord that he had become, Marcus could not read his master's feelings or intentions. There was no mental push to keep him out; there was only a veil, a wall of shadow, that gently and politely hid his mind. Kylo had finally learned to shield himself completely, and Marcus felt a bleak, defeated despair at how inadequate he still was, how inferior his powers were compared to his master's. _Was this how he defeated Snoke?_ he wondered.

"I still have not physically measured the volume of midichlorians in her blood, my Lord, " Bacchus continued to report. "But I suspect that it has increased astronomically from the last forty-eight hours. If she is made aware of the extent of her newly-found abilities, we can no longer contain her. The entire Order, without Theo, can no longer protect ourselves from her."

"How do you suppose she can, as you say, be made aware of what she can do to us?"

"Events that involved violent emotions, or feelings, have had the effect of unlocking her inner pathways to the Force. Perhaps…" Bacchus trailed off, and started blushing violently. "Well, I wouldn't assume anything. But we must take care not to…excite her. Too much."

A small smile tugged at the corner of Kylo's red lips, but he quickly brushed it aside. "I understand. But I still need all of you tonight, when we make a unified appearance before the Republic senators and First Order generals. Do you think we can manage until then without Theo?"

"Vittoria is still in the Medical Bay, My Lord. She simply refuses to be discharged, despite my diagnosis that she is already well and able."

Kylo rose, descended down the low flight of stairs from his throne, and placed a hand on Bacchus' slender shoulder. "She will be there. Leave it to me." He quickly leaned his forehead affectionately to Bacchus', and said to the Souka twins. "I won't need your assistance with Vittoria. Go on, prepare yourselves for tonight's festivities. Rebecca won't stop nagging if all of us are not attired in our best."

Bacchus stepped forward to accompany him, but Kylo pushed him towards the Souka twins, who were leaving to return to their chambers. "Same goes for you, Bacchus. And besides, you can watch her progress in the Bay's CCTV."

...

The first things that Kylo turned off by a mere blink were the fifteen CCTV cameras that monitored Vittoria's room. The door swooshed open, and with a flick of his hand, he locked it with the Force, ensuring that only he could open it from the inside.

She was lying with her eyes closed and her hands resting peacefully on her chest, her dark violet hair spread out on the pillow in intricate cascading waves. Kylo was instantly reminded of the image of his grandmother Padme Amidala Skywalker. Vittoria asleep, without the years-long hate that usually hardened and corrupted her facial features, was just as beautiful as Padme, but Kylo felt no emotion staring down at her. Not even hatred, or contempt. He was only aware of the tumult of emotions that had once seized him when they first met a decade ago as they started training in the Jedi Academy. She had been his first lover, and the first one who had truly loved him in that passion he had seen firsthand between his parents. He had thought then that, over time, he could love her back in the way that she wanted, in the same desperate fervor that she had felt towards him. He had thought many many things when they had still been so young and innocent of the true ways of the world. They were still on the same side, fighting the same cause. But she had gone deep, too deep, into the Dark, and far down a road where even he could not follow.

He took off the glove in his hand, and caressed the side of her face. "Tory," he whispered.

Vittoria opened her eyes, and purred softly when she saw Kylo Ren gazing down at her, "My lord."

"I gathered from Bacchus that you are now well and able to resume your duties."

"I will be, if that is your desire."

"It is, Tory."

"Then it is done."

"Perfect," Kylo answered. He rose from his chair and turned to leave, but she took his hand in a surprisingly strong grip with her fingers. He turned to glare at her.

"I felt you turn off the cameras, my Lord. We are alone now." Vittoria smiled at him, and her grip loosened into a silky caress on the bare skin of his arm. "We have catching up to do."

"I never seriously hurt you back in the Training Hall. I only disarmed your Force powers. You always relied too much on them, even in training."

Vittoria stared at him, her purple eyes darkening with desire. "I remember many things too, when we are alone together, Ben," she said. "And even then, you and I still used the Force for our little entertainments."

Kylo exhaled impatiently, and tried not to show his repulsion at Vittoria's silky caresses on his wrist.

"I've missed you," she said achingly.

"I don't believe that when you were busy torturing child workers and slaughtering pregnant mothers in the Fedwyr work camp where Snoke sent you."

Vittoria made a soft _tch_ sound with her lips, raising an eyebrow dismissively. "I had to teach the men there a lesson. Nobody will continue a mutiny with such memories preventing them from entertaining the futility of freedom."

"These memories will fuel their desperation to join the Resistance."

"Master Snoke wouldn't have thought so."

"Master Snoke is DEAD." Kylo reversed Vittoria's grip on his arm, and clutched her wrist tightly, increasing the pressure of his grip until he could feel her bare bone under his thumb. Vittoria looked at him in fear. "I killed him. And you do not take the life of an innocent ever again unless I give you leave, Vittoria Holdo. Or your life will be forfeit." Kylo released her arm savagely and Vittoria yelped in pain. He mentally turned on the cameras again and released the holds on her door. "Get dressed. Our guests will be arriving tonight, and I need you looking your best."

"Anything for YOU," Vittoria replied venomously. "But I won't do it for HER."

"It's all the same to me," Kylo replied, looking ahead and refusing to meet her quivering, weeping gaze, as he stalked out of her door.

...

Rey could feel a ripple in the atmosphere inside her chambers, calling out to her. When she prodded the edge of it with her mind, she saw the ocean, an island with the Halseys' rundown castle in the middle of sweeping pines, and Poe at the beach, narrating stories to the twins Yvaine and Tom, who grasped each of his hand, and wanted him to tell them more of his adventures. Then, a black lash-less eye opening, leaking black blood at the corner of an eyelid, and the whisper from a familiar voice: "He's coming."

"No," Rey murmured, her thoughts and nerves fraught with worry as the robots in her chambers guided her in her toilette, styled her hair in intricate dos that made it shimmer like molten amber, painted her face and smeared her skin with a gold-tinged lotion that made her skin glow. They finally dressed her in a veil of pearly-white material that clung to her figure, and immediately bloomed into a breathtakingly beautiful gown encrusted with millions of tiny pink and light purple diamonds that subtly exposed her cleavage, and had double slits on the front, showing off her long smooth legs whenever she walked or moved. Rey was staring at her reflection in horror when Kylo entered her chambers. He was dressed in black velvet, and sported a ruby-red cape flowing from his broad shoulders.

He had a silver circlet in his hands that he meant to give to Rey, but he became transfixed at the sight of her, the slender head jewelry perched forgotten on his long, slender fingers.

"You look…" He began, but his breath caught in his throat, and he could only swallow hard as Rey shook her head and sat down on her bed in dismay. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Do I really have to wear this?" she complained, indicating her dress. "I don't think I can pull this off for an entire night. And I have to eat dinner too."

Kylo smiled. "You're afraid of staining it?"

"I plan to eat A LOT. The robots informed me that there's going to be mashed root vegetables and roast meats. Rebecca's given me nothing but leek soup for two days. Saying I need to fit in my dress, but when the robots slipped me into it, I was two sizes smaller, and they had to readjust it. But after dinner, I'm going to look like a pregnant upright cow with this get-up." Rey's legs slipped out of the slits of her dress, and she immediately tugged on her dress to cover her bare flesh. Kylo placed the headdress on top of the coverlet, gently took her hands away from her legs, and bent down to kiss her.

"You're beautiful as you are," he whispered to her, his breath warm against the tendrils of her hair at the side of her face. Rey closed her eyes and indulged in her body's responses to Kylo Ren's closeness: the exquisite warm chill shivering down her back as his hand caressed the curve of her spine, the goosebumps on her arms as his other hand softly ghosted on her neck, tracing her shoulder bones and clavicle with his fingers. His lips pressed on her temple, and Rey couldn't help a small moan escaping from her lips. " You've always been. This kind of gown…is unexpected, that's all. And I agree with you that you shouldn't wear it. There are many politicians present in this soiree, and they will be chasing after you with their tongues lolling out when they see those legs. You're mine, Rey. And I don't like sharing you, or even just the sight of you, with anyone."

"I'll just wear my old clothes then," Rey chuckled.

"No need. This dress changes based on the preferred style, I am told. One of Bacchus' bizarre hobby-inventions." Kylo was handed a slender, leaf-thin controller by the nearest robot. He tapped on the screen, and immediately Rey's dress became a lush, dark turquoise-blue silk dress with a Chinese collar, sleeves that opened at the elbows and a long skirt modest slits that started only mid-thigh. Rey stood up, twirled on her sides, and was satisfied that it covered her legs and adequately supported her hips and stomach. The robots handed her a pair of violet stiletto pumps. Kylo helped Rey practice in them for several minutes until Rey mastered how to walk comfortably in heels. Kylo examined her look for a few seconds, and decided to leave out the circlet he had brought with him.

"I hope I don't embarrass you tonight," Rey murmured sheepishly, as the door to her chambers opened, and she saw the Souka twins waiting for them by the door, ready to escort them. Kylo glanced at her worriedly.

He was curious at her sudden change of heart. Against his better judgment, he decided to test Bacchus' theory. He skimmed her surface thoughts and impressions, trying not to pry the deeper into her mind. But she was curiously devoid of the slightest mental barrier. Kylo dared himself to hope, to entertain the thought that perhaps she was finally starting to love him, even like him, beyond their uncontrollable physical need for each other.

They stopped before the closed, lavishly decorated entrance into the ship's capacious banquet hall. As the solid-gold doors slowly opened, shafts of golden light from the hall illuminating their faces and the sounds of hundreds of voices and elegant music streaming out, Kylo felt Rey reach for his hand and grip it tightly for reassurance.

It was at that exact moment that they faced a wave of white, searing heat and the deafening sound of an explosion.

...

"Are you sure?" Poe asked worriedly for the fifth time in an hour. "Lady Himari enabled all our com and transmission systems hours ago. The coordinates should reach them now."

"The magnetic and neutrino fields from the nearby baby planets are making it difficult to trace anything," Chewbacca answered, furiously punching the controls of the Millenium Falcon's communicators.

"We have no other choice then but to transmit outside of Kyrthis."

"It could be a trap. Someone could be waiting for us already at the edge and rerouting our signals."

"There's only one way to find out."

Minutes later, Poe, Chewbacca and the Halseys watched as Himari summoned a flat disc of rock from the sea, dried it right away with a furious whirlwind of hot air, and directed it to land by the edge of the cliff. She perched on it in her meditative stance, scanning the scale of Kyrthis with her mind. She gasped.

"Sigurn! Hide the twins!" Himari warned, gritting her teeth. "A First Order ship has traced the Falcon's route through the asteroid and neutrino fields. They will be landing directly in a few minutes."

The twins immediately asked their mother to let them help her and Himari fight off the First Order. But Sigurn used the Force to place them in a body-bind and to mute their insistent, pleading voices. She carefully laid them down near the ground level entrance of the Millenium Falcon, telling them that she will release the Force bind the minute that she senses that they are in grave danger, and that they should be ready to pilot the ship on their own to escape. Chewbacca and Poe readied their blasters. Himari descended from her perch and calmly prepared herself. After kissing her children tenderly, Sigurn came down from the Milenium Falcon, and stood behind her protector. Both of them were silent as the miniscule outline of a First Order T-Fighter ship appeared in the horizon.

"Any idea who's coming, my Lady? Since you used to know them well." Poe ventured.

Himari sighed. She hesitated to answer, but she had no choice if they were to garner a decent plan to defend themselves. "The most powerful and broken Knight of Ren I know of. At least, from ten years ago, when I was still with them." Sigurn paled and looked at her in shock.

"Theo."

 **"*********************End of Chapter Five ********************

 _~~Notes: Writing is hard. *cue maniacal, desperate laughter* I have the utmost respect now for people who do this for a living, and who spend countless hours experimenting, turning out page after page of endless drafts, until they find their writing style and give life, oxygen and personality to the ideas, voices and images in their heads. I had hoped to just end my #reylo castle in the air with a one-shot fanfiction, but this story has grabbed a life of its own and refuses to die out in my thoughts. I wish I could just ignore it because I have a very busy professional life and my to-do list could do with a brutal spring cleaning. But this has become a priority now, apparently. I can't tear myself away from this. And to tell you the truth, I can't even see a discernible end to the storyline. Yet. Oh God. Is this how addiction starts?_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

They had both been seven years old when they became orphans. The odor of sulfur and burning flesh reached them miles away in their secret cave by the sea, where they had spent a happy afternoon playing by the waves and snorkeling for underwater treasures. The inland breeze carried faint echoes of horrified weeping, and both of them immediately ran as fast as they could, fear and panic numbing the pain as they stumbled on sharp rocks and thistles along the way. They collapsed to their knees, their faces blanched in horror, as they beheld at the border gate the wreckage of what had once been their home. They held each other's hands tightly; Theo could feel the bones of his fingers being crushed under Sigurn's grip as their eyes surveyed the charred and burning carcasses of the villagers beneath a glowing red metal cross implanted on the edge of the village.

 _Mama, Mama,_ Theo heard Sigurn weep in her mind, her voice slashing through his thoughts. They both silently wept at the ravaged corpse of Helga, the village Wise Woman, whose her pale golden hair was caked with blood, and whose emerald-blue eyes, which had smiled kindly at Theo and her daughter when they had set out to the sea that morning to gather sea shells, were now, even in death, wide and blazing in horror. She had been crucified and raped. Theo tightly closed his eyes to push away from his mind flashbacks of the Wise Woman's last hours: the numerous slashes and wounds on her wrists and feet which showed that she had pulled free from a first nailing and fought back her attackers, before they crucified her one last time.

Theo saw the severed heads of his foster parents propped on metal spikes. He could not identify their remains among the blackened, beheaded villagers piled around Helga's cross. His eyes streaked to the thatched houses now burning lustily in the dimming light of the ruby-red sunset. He heard the voices of his baby twin brothers and the other children of the village as they screamed in their last moments of pain after the invaders locked them inside their homes and burned them alive. Their cries were now muted; Theo only heard remnants of these memories in the wind. He and Sigurn had arrived hours too late.

Sigurn had already seen these memories from him: he was gifted in scrying the last memories of a place of trauma or extreme emotion, and she, in turn, could probe his mind and that of others', even without their permission, and pry emotions, thoughts, memories and secrets: all things hidden away in the recesses of the conscious and subconscious stream of a person's brain. He was shattered, numbed with grief and desolation. He wanted to run away back to the sea and let the crashing waves drown him into oblivion, but Sigurn held him back.

"Never leave me, Theo," Sigurn finally spoke, her small voice cracked with sorrow. She turned to him, and Theo hugged her tightly. They were now the only survivors of their small village of healers and astronomers. The two of them cried themselves hoarse, their eyes turning red and sore from the smoke. Theo waited until Sigurn had finally shed the last of her tears. He watched the last hours of the day fading away with the coming dusk, and knew that he and Sigurn should get up, summon whatever strength they could muster from their frail, thin bodies and bury everyone before nightfall. He doubted they could protect themselves from the wolves that always came at the rising of the full harvest moon. Sigurn read his thoughts, raised her head from Theo's chest and nodded weakly. Though they were only children and knew nothing of the throes of physical love, they caressed each other's faces, comforting each other, inhaling deeply in sync, until they summoned enough strength from within themselves and each other for the heavy task ahead.

They held hands and leaned towards each other, illuminating the diamond-shaped seals that had been tattooed on their foreheads. They muttered the words of a forbidden spell that they had scried from Helga a long time ago and slowly, painfully, released the binds on each other's Force powers. The seals had been placed long ago when they were infants by a visiting Jedi Master Luke Skywalker to keep their powers at bay and prevent them from burning the village in their sleep. During his rare visits, Master Luke Skywalker, had once secretly taught the twins how to control the Force and to shape it to their thoughts. Theo and Sigurn refused to be intimidated by the overwhelming waves of energy that now rushed and overwhelmed their senses; they concentrated, as Master Luke taught them, sought their cores of receptivity, and connected their wills and feelings to the Force.

It was hours later when Luke Skywalker arrived at the village of Ryshik after he sensed a massive disturbance of the Force in the area and secured leave from the Jedi council for an emergency rescue mission. The flames had long burned to embers, the buildings of the once-prosperous village now reduced to blackened piles of timber and dust, but he did not see a single lifeless body. At the edge of the village were hundreds of newly-made individual graves, and he found two children asleep in each other's arms beside three graves that had been adorned with wreaths of wildflowers. They were both shivering in the cold, their dirty faces caked with dried blood, mud and soot and streaked with the trails of their tears. He took Sigurn in his arms, calming her with the Force when she woke up and started calling for Theo. The latter felt mechanical arms pick him up, and Theo stared into the sorrow-stricken eyes of Empatojayos Brand, one of Luke's trusted Jedi Generals.

"There, there, little one." General Empatojayos said. He and Luke Skywalker gently carried the children into the ship as the last embers of the ruined village faded in the evening moonlight. Theo let out a whimper as he saw Sigurn curled up in a cot, rendered asleep by a calming spell from Luke Skywalker. Theo politely refused when General Empatojayos asked if he would like a sleeping spell too.

"I'd like to see my planet one more time, Master." His tiny, earnest voice tugged at the General's heart, and he swallowed back his own sobs as he stared at the delicate, fire-haired boy staring solemnly at the opal full moon and glowing mounds of clouds outside his window.

"You have a strong heart, boy. Be strong for your sister."

"She's not my sister," Theo replied quietly, his voice heavy with sorrow. "But she will have me, always. We only have each other from now on." As if she had heard his words, Sigurn took Theo's hand beside her pillow and clutched it tightly. She was still sleeping, and Theo reached out to caress wayward strands of blonde hair from her heart-shaped face.

General Empatojayos felt a wave of his own tears threatening to clog his breathing apparatus, and he coughed roughly to get rid of it. He wished he could stay longer to comfort the children but Master Luke Skywalker was already quietly calling for him, urging him to join in his hologram report back to the Jedi council about the Sith massacre of the mystic village of Ryshik.

He knew that his next words were wrong, but the General could not help it. Outrage at the genocide, sorrow and helplessness at the cruelty of what had happened to the children's village prompted him.

"Learn and train," He found himself saying. "Be the most powerful Jedi warrior that we can make you to be. Be the instrument of your own revenge."

Theo stared at him, and the General began to feel discomfort as the almost-black green of the boy's irises illuminated into a shade of angry, brilliant aquamarine. He felt the pulsating black waves of the boy's grief hardening and forming into a core of purposeful rage.

"Yes Master." He heard the boy's soft promise as the General turned around to exit the room.

…..

Theo leaned his weight on his elbows as he listened to the hologram of Bacchus, the Knights of Ren's Lord Spymaster, reiterate the parameters of his mission to hunt down Commander Poe Dameron, the well-known rebel pilot who consistently evaded capture despite numerous assassination missions led by Theo Ren, and who had recently been promoted according to First Order intelligence as the second-in-command of the Resistance rebels. Theo's eyebrows crinkled slightly in worry. The mission seemed too simple, too easy. His instincts made him suspect that he could be walking into a trap. He voiced this concern to Bacchus, who assured him that this was a rare opportunity and probably the only chance they had in capturing the rogue pilot.

"Forgive me, Lord Spymaster, but without my protection, who will stand guard for the Lady Rey and the Supreme Leader?

Bacchus slightly tilted his head in reproach. "You insult the capabilities of the Soukas with that query, my dear Theo."

"Oh no, my sincere apologies. There was no insult meant at all," Theo expostulated, darting a sharp glancing glare at Bacchus, who smiled at him teasingly. "I only meant...well, the two of them... from each other."

Bacchus shrugged, pretending not to discern what the older Knight meant. "They have already loved, so well and so thoroughly for two nights in a row, I doubt we wouldn't have an heir nine months from now." He laughed at the bright red blush spilling on Theo's pale, sunlight-deprived cheeks. "I'm sorry, I'm only pulling your leg, Lord Theo. You are always so serious all the time." Bacchus immediately banished the wide grin from his face at the older knight's grim expression. "But as for your concern, there is no need to worry. The Lady has not fully grasped, much less understood, the full breadth of her powers yet. And she is detained in an Ysalamiri prison, she has no means of finding out."

"My Lord Solo...I mean, Lord Kylo Ren- cannot keep her there forever."

"No," Bacchus replied, in a slightly wistful, ruminative voice. "But I doubt any prison can hold her. She is stalling, I think. For her own personal reasons. I doubt we can ever know her mind. The only thing we can do is prepare ourselves for what she eventually decides to do."

"Well, then you cannot possibly send me away. You need all the help you can muster."

"Trust me on this," Bacchus said quietly, directing his gaze directly at Theo, a slight smile curving at the corner of his lips. "You will not want to miss this opportunity to finally get rid of Commander Poe."

"I would like to confirm this mission with the Supreme Leader, with your permission, Lord Spymaster."

Bacchus rolled his eyes exasperatedly and folded his arms. This impatient gesture reminded Theo of the Spymaster as a novice padawan ten years ago, learning the Ways of the Force from him and the other teachers in Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy. Theo immediately recalled a memory of Sigurn, her golden blond hair that glimmered in bright sunlight, her bright emerald eyes greedily searching for the most intelligent and most talented student, eager to teach and to pass on her knowledge, and eventually settling on the unnervingly quiet and troubled Ben Solo, who had been briefly enamored by her beauty.

"Fine," Bacchus' voice brought Theo out of his reverie. "But don't tell him we know that he's finally having sex." And with that bizarre remark, the Spymaster switched off his communicator, leaving Theo in the still, quiet darkness of his chambers.

Theo opened his eyes from a session of deep meditation as the automated controls of his single-pilot TIE fighter informed him of his approach to the only land mass in the planet Lenthys. He retrieved the hologram visual data to flash before him, and he frowned slightly as he stared at the sight of a single land spire topped by an empty, flat island of long-sheaved grass. The Millenium Falcon was nowhere to be seen. The spire appeared to sway in the wind in the middle of a tossing ocean where Theo could see schools of underwater creatures dipping and peeking from under the waves. He scanned his surroundings using the Force and immediately discerned that he was being subjected to an illusion spell.

 _I should have brought one of the Souka twins with me,_ Theo thought with a tinge of regret. Bacchus did not say, or didn't know, that this planet was under the control of a powerful Force user. But Theo had faced down and defeated many powerful Jedi Masters and Knights. And it was important to resolve this mission as soon as possible so that he could go back to the Home Ship and reinforce the Supreme Leader's personal guard.

As he approached the towering island, he saw two hooded figures appear from thin air and land on the grass. Theo put on his mask and clutched his battered lightsaber. He set his one-man TIE fighter to hover half a mile from the island, and tessered to land a hundred feet away from the hooded figures.

"Happy evening to you, Lord Theo," one of the hooded figures greeted him. Theo bowed. He appreciated this old-fashioned courtesy, and returned the hooded man's greeting.

"You know who I am. So you know what my purpose might be in coming here." He glanced at his TIE fighter hovering near the island. "If you are delaying for time and opportunity to let the rebels escape, you will not succeed."

"We already have. We lured you here, didn't we?"

An explosive blast sounded off, blowing his TIE fighter to smithereens, and the ripples of a shielding illusion faded to reveal the Millenium Falcon only yards away from the island. Its guns angled to point at him, and Theo could see the fierce, angular face of the pilot, Poe Dameron, manning it. In a half-second, Theo was already moving towards him, his lightsaber turned on, ready to slice off his head. Ahead of him, a hooded figure landed on the gunner's glass shield with an activated lightsaber of his own, and the second hooded man floated before him, his short arm extended. Theo felt a wave of the Force repelling him back; he raised his arm to counter it with his own Force energy, but the first hooded man rushed forward and kicked him squarely in the chest. Theo felt his breath knocked out of him and he struggled to move his arms, but these were rendered immobile by a powerful Force Suspension bind. The first hooded warrior's long strong fingers gripped Theo's wrists, attempting to wrest him of his lightsaber.

Theo raised his head slowly, sneaking a slow, sinister smile into the shadowed cowl hiding his opponent's face. "Bad idea," he murmured before striking him down with a powerful headbutt. The hooded man released his grip on Theo and cartwheeled into the blue, sunlit expanse of the sky.

The second hooded figure visibly flinched at Theo's attack, and chuckled softly. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, and Theo peered at him as the latter made no move to help his companion.

"That was no way to treat your wife, My Lord."

Theo felt himself going cold. He dropped his lightsaber and immediately lost control of his Force powers. As he felt himself headfirst falling to the sea, a brutal wave of Force energy roughly whipped the mask from his face. He saw Sigurn enraged and snarling ferociously above him. Theo let out a happy cry before Sigurn raised her fist and struck her husband's face with a mighty punch that propelled him deep into the waves and knocked him unconscious.

…..

"The most advanced warship in the galaxy, and we use it to have a bloody ball."

Rebecca smiled as Bacchus' lazy, annoyed voice cut through the silence of the vast and empty Training Hall, now turned into a decadently-decorated ballroom. It was still three hours before the hundreds of allies were expected to arrive for the gathering summoned by the Supreme Leader. Rebecca had abandoned her usual black gear for a thin, opal-white gown that clung to every curve and line of her slender figure. Waves of her bubblegum-pink hair piled and cascaded around her face, and when she finally faced Bacchus, the Spymaster couldn't resist a surprised laugh. He stopped immediately upon seeing Rebecca's irked reaction, and gave her a gallant little bow.

Rebecca rolled her eyes at him, but not before giving a warm appreciative glance at Bacchus' robes made of rich, Midnight Blue brocade. His chin-length hair was combed back, the lines of his face briefly smoothened away as he smiled down at her teasingly.

"We need an excuse every now and then to dress to impress," Bacchus replied. "Except that you seem to have entirely missed the point."

"I refuse to pander to the red-is-the-new-black Sith-inspired fashion trend."

"Because of course bubblegum pop is the new de rigeur. At a Sith gathering of mass murderers, tyrants and the traitors of the Republic."

"This is a gala. A female presence is a visual necessity. I'm not having this descend into one of Hux's boring monochrome rallies."

"No slight danger of that after you slit his throat from ear to ear and took over his armies before Vittoria could get her hands on him."

"Well, he did beg for a quick death. You know how Vittoria likes to play with her prey."

Bacchus made an impatient noise. "You Holdo barbarians. We could have pressed him first for information. A quarter of the guests we're inviting to our little coop tonight were fiercely loyal to Snoke and Hux, and now we have no inkling of what they'd been planning when they died."

"Condemning him to YOUR methods is an even worse fate. You cannot deny that his influence and vast wealth contributed to our dominance in the galaxy. That was a small mercy, especially when Lord Kylo was a little fond of him."

Bacchus' peals of laughter echoed down the vast chamber, and made the maintenance robots finalizing arrangements on the decorations and refreshments pause for a second before they resumed their duties.

"So fond," Bacchus continued, wiping a couple of tears from the corners of his eyelids as Rebecca glared at him. "That he ordered Vittoria to rectify his show of compassion for sending you first."

"He had it coming! He was organizing a coup the moment Snoke bit the dust!"

"Lord Kylo had been expecting it, Becca. He recruited the aid of the Lady Rey in vanquishing the Supreme Leader, and they could have gotten control of Hux's armies in one stroke. If only—"

"If only Rey had not shown mercy and restraint. And worry for her friends whom the Supreme Leader wanted killed," Rebecca finished. "These are not vices, Bacchus. You and the Supreme Leader do not fool me. I know both of you want a kinder regime for this new era. For everyone."

Bacchus and Rebecca looked at each other for a long moment: Bacchus's eyes hooded and thoughtful, as Rebecca sought to pierce the veil of his mind with her own pleading gaze.

"Lord Kylo won't win over our former Master's allies with kindness," Bacchus finally said. "That is not why we are all summoned here tonight. And we cannot afford to be fractured now when we must show strength."

Rebecca narrowed her eyes at him. "If that was truly your aim, then why did you send Theo on a foolhardy mission hours before this ghastly affair?"

Bacchus smiled mysteriously at her. He was prevented from answering by the announcement by the nearest droid of the arrival of the Sith-allied generals and senators from the Mid Rim systems.

Rebecca flashed her exasperated violet eyes at Bacchus. "Whatever you're planning, pray it doesn't collapse to a shit storm."

"At least we'll all still be together, come hail and fire, mayhem and murder." Bacchus answered her. He gave her a brilliant grin as he held out his arm, and Rebecca begrudgingly took it. "Time to razzle-dazzle. Shall we?"

"Tell me a story."

Vittoria, naked and sitting daintily in front of her gigantic dresser mirror, was in the middle of using the Force to position a netting of tiny teardrop diamonds and rubies meant for her hair, and the delicate piece of jewelry was suspended inches from her scalp when she turned to the sultry, bronze-skinned male courtesan still silkily spread out on her bed. He was a beautiful, shape-shifting humanoid, and he had transformed back to his original form after Vittoria drained the last vestiges of the physical stamina that his species was widely known for.

"You can fuck off my bed, slave," Vittoria softly snapped at him, pretending to be annoyed. "We're done here. Rest in your own quarters." She waved her fingers at him dismissively, and went back to perfecting her headdress.

"How about no?"

Vittoria slid a menacing glare at the shapeshifter's smiling reflection on the mirror and crooked her forefinger. He was immediately raised five feet into the air, his throat visibly contracting to block his air. Vittoria's deep violet irises lightened into dark orange rimmed with red.

"Please…" the shapeshifter choked, struggling for breath. "My Lady…"

Vittoria lightly closed her palm, and the shapeshifter's lungs immediately contracted to the size of raisins. Vittoria released him and his lifeless corpse fell soundlessly on her bed.

Vittoria exhaled softly and turned her head to view her head-dress at various angles. When she was finally satisfied, she stood up and went inside the cavernous troves of her considerable wardrobe. Vittoria was deep inside this enclave when she heard the doors to her chambers open.

"Rebecca?" Vittoria called out. She came out carrying a gown of ice-blue silk tucked under her chin and smirked when she saw her sister, her pink hair piled atop her elegant oval face and wearing a modest gown of dark pink, heavily embroidered velvet.

Rebecca stared at Vittoria with a heavy, unnerving gravity. Vittoria rolled her eyes at her sister and started putting on her makeup and slipping golden bracelets up her bare arms. Rebecca persisted with her silence, and Vittoria glanced back at her sister with a brief mocking chuckle.

"What did I do this time?" she laughed. "What's gotten you so mad that you can't even greet me properly?"

Rebecca moved to stand directly behind Vittoria and smiled sadly. Vittoria scoffed and went on putting her mascara, but paused and frowned slightly when she heard the soft sound of something being unsheathed. Rebecca suddenly covered Vittoria's mouth with her hand, and pushed the ice-cold metal of her blade into the soft flesh of Vittoria's back, burying it deep until she was able to penetrate the heart, and twisting the blade. As blood rushed upwards to flood her breathing passages, filling her mouth, streams of them trickling at either side of her lips, Vittoria saw the image of her sister flicker and change into the dark burnt-sienna skinned, red-haired form of a female native from the planet Fedwyr. The Fedwyr's dark golden irises blazed with a hateful joy at Vittoria's wide-eyed, frightened gaze.

"The scales are balanced for the families you murdered and the men forced into slavery, First Order scum," the Fedwyr hissed at her. Her blue, two-forked tongue flickered on the side of Vittoria's bloodied, gasping face as if she was tasting the Knight's tortured last moments of life.

Vittoria struggled to turn around in one last attempt to kill her attacker, but the light in her eyes finally faded, and she slumped lifelessly in the Fedwyr's arms. The alien assassin threw the body face down against the mirror, as if repelled by the mere touch of her, and quickly pulled away her knife. Blood flowed from the wound, and the assassin stepped back, raised a booted leg, and savagely kicked Vittoria's lifeless body to the floor.

She was wiping her knife clean with a snow-white towel when Marcus entered and found Vittoria dead at the assassin's feet, her body awkwardly angled. He stared at Alice Ren's shocked face, his mind racing at the hundreds of civilizations that she had tortured and killed in the span of her short, cruel life as a Knight of Ren. He remembered her as the beautiful, laughing crown princess of Holdo who had been in love with Ben Solo when they had first started their training as Force Users.

He heard Fedwyr assassin make a scoffing sound with her breath as she finished wiping off the last traces of blood from her weapon. She nonchalantly threw the bloodied towel at Vittoria's still-bleeding body.

"Don't tell me you feel sorry for her," she muttered. "Your boss certainly didn't think so." Marcus still couldn't keep his eyes off Vittoria's corpse.

"Give me a moment here," he said in slight annoyance. "I knew her. Spent the last decade of my life getting used to her presence, however vile. The loss of a life should at least merit more than a mere pause."

"And did that bitch give the same consideration to the children and mothers she murdered to blackmail and control my race? You humans. Always so sentimental. All heart, no sense of history,'" she said scornfully. "She should have lost your respect and friendship the moment she fed her hunger for violence with the lives of innocents."

Marcus could not deny it. And yet she had cared not for what the other Knights thought, even her sister. She could not see that even Kylo Ren had long been repelled by her, avoided her because of her incessant need to destroy lives: the younger and more innocent, the more delicious, she had once said. Master Snoke had encouraged her unbridled killing sprees and even required the same from the other Knights of Ren. But Snoke was dead, the Old Order vanquished, and with that, the continuing horrors of such reign should likewise be stopped or killed. Alice Ren, formerly Vittoria Holdo, crown princess of Gatalenta, was one such horror. Unlike the rest of them, she could not be redeemed back to the Light.

Marcus bowed before the Fedwyr assassin. He did not know her name, since Fedwyr natives did not identify themselves using vocal sounds, and they considered it insulting to be labeled by humans using words. But Marcus exhibited to her the respect owed to the assassin who was also considered a princess by her own people. The gesture amused the Fedwyr, and she indulged in a moment of condescension. Marcus did not mind. For all that Vittoria had done to the assassin's planet, this was the least that he could do before saying to her: "I have been sent here to relay to you that all debts are paid, Your Grace. The Knights of Ren owe no blood-debt now to the inhabitants of Fedwyr."

"Barely," the Fedwyr princess replied haughtily. She turned to exit the room, leaving Leo with Vittoria's corpse. She stopped and inclined her head to the Knight of Ren as she spoke. "And we appreciate this. We will remember this. Thank you, Lord Ren."

…..

Rey closed her eyes against the white-hot light before her and instinctively raised her hand, summoning the Force to beat back an anticipated wave of kinetic energy. But she heard Kylo's laugh beside her and the swell of hundreds of voices cheering and the sound of clapping before them. The wall of light swerved away from her, and she discovered that she and Kylo were at the top of a magnificent staircase looking over a vast space filled with crowds of formally dressed aliens and humans, the walls and tall columns opulently decorated with the scarlet and black colors of the First Order, and the high ceiling brilliantly lighted and programmed to reflect the swirling galaxies outside the ship.

Rey stared at the vista before her, her mouth narrowing to a small O in mild shock. With the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pairs of eyes directed towards her and Kylo Ren, she suddenly felt half-naked, awkward, and extremely self-conscious.

Kylo slipped an arm around her waist and bent down to whisper softly in her ear, his breath stirring several soft strands of her hair, raising goosebumps on her skin. "You are perfect. And they are all here to pay homage to you, to us." Rey looked up into the hot, black depths of Kylo's gaze, then at the crowds before them, cheering Kylo's name, hers, and those of the Knights of Ren. She felt Kylo's lips press a soft kiss on her temple. One by one, the Knights of Ren stood by their side. Leo Ren gave her a brief nod and a lingering, appreciative gaze, while his twin briefly bowed. Bacchus winked at her as he stood arm in arm with Rebecca, resplendent in a translucent white gown that sparkled in the light, who gave her a bright smile and briefly squeezed her hand, which had gone icy cold. Rey could not see Vittoria anywhere, but eventually she saw the female knight slither silently beside Marcus Ren, cool and almost obscenely beautiful in a slither of a deep violet gown that showed off her legs and the deep swells of her cleavage exposed by a low neckline that plunged to her belly button. All male eyes, except for Kylo's and that of the Knights, immediately veered towards Vittoria, who responded by propping a hand on her bared hip and tossing a curly lock of her violet hair.

Bacchus raised his arms, and commenced on a speech that acknowledged the presence of the allies from the different star systems of the galaxy and their history of collaboration with the Sith Order, now evolved into the Knights of Ren. Rey spied a small smile of satisfaction curve at the corner of Kylo Ren's lips, and knew that he was happy at the strong support shown by this gathering. The Souka twins, even when clad at their best regalia, continued scanning the swelling crowds for possible threats. More than once, Rey saw Leo glance at her briefly, worriedly, but Rey reassured him with a shrug and a smile. It was then that she saw Marcus lean down on the black-eyed Vittoria, whisper something on her ear, and Vittoria slightly arched back her face and gave out a coquettish little laugh. Rey immediately felt Rebecca stiffen beside her.

Bacchus was still in the middle of his speech when Rey felt a wave of Force energy wrap around Rebecca's body like an invisible vice and slither up her face to cover her mouth to prevent her from crying out. Kylo was relaxed and his limbs felt soft at Rey's side, but he was using his peripheral vision and telekinesis to restrain and quiet Rebecca. Rey stared ahead as she heard Rebecca's soundless mental scream in her head. When Bacchus had finished, ending his long winding speech with a charming joke that made the audience erupt in laughter, he exchanged a single glance of inquiry and panic with Kylo Ren, who slightly shook his head and mentally ordered him to take over restraining and controlling Rebecca Ren.

Rey took another look at Vittoria. Although the creature beside Marcus was the perfect physical replica of Vittoria Holdo known as Alice Ren, her Force signature was completely alien and entirely not human. Rey let out a small gasp, but Kylo had already took her hand and was leading her down the staircase to meet the crowds of dignitaries below. When they reached the landing, Rey looked back and saw Bacchus leading Rebecca way from the balcony. She made a move to run back to her friend. Kylo restrained her in a force bind, Rey pushed through it and glared at Kylo, who glowered at her back.

"Leave it!" he spoke to her mind. Rey ignored him. She bunched the long silky trail of her skirt in her hand, and ran up the staircase back to Rebecca. She was able to go through the gigantic doors just as they were shutting close.

When she reached the hallway, neither Bacchus nor Rebecca were in sight. Rey closed her eyes and used the Force to activate her mind's eye to locate Rebecca. Pushing through the weakening barriers of Ysalamiri that crowded the private quarters of the Knights of Ren, Rey finally located an isolated chamber where she could see Bacchus' Force signature dragging the furiously squirming form of Rebecca Ren. Rey kicked off her heels and ran to their direction.

….

Poe watched as the Halsey twins dove into the sea to rescue their father. He had felt a pure jolt of fear when he saw the giant, black-garbed, bulk of Theo Ren charging straight at him with an activated saber. His finger had frantically pushed at the gunner switch to fire blaster shots at the Knight of Ren, but for some reason, no shots fired and all his target locking systems were disabled. He couldn't help gasping loudly in shock as Theo head-butted Sigurn, and he jumped upwards from his seat, hitting his head on the low ceiling of the gunner's cubby when he witnessed Sigurn immediately counter with a massive sucker punch to her husband's face. The resulting aftershock temporarily disabled the Millenium Falcon's hovering mechanism, and Poe heard Chewbacca moaning loudly for him to come back to assist him in the cockpit so that they can land the ship again on the island.

The Halsey twins pulled Theo Ren and his lightsaber out of the restless, tossing waves and immediately flew back to their castle, carefully suspending their unconscious father between them by means of the Force. Sigurn had already fled back after Theo fell to the waves, leaving Poe and Chewbacca with the Lady Himari, who was still floating in thin air and chuckling amusedly at the Halsey family. Now left alone, Poe and Chewbacca went out of the Millenium Falcon to take their leave of her hospitality.

"I can't see into the future, so I don't know when I will see you again," said Himari to Poe, smiling graciously at him. "But I hope it will be soon. You have a strong heart and a pure soul. The rebels are fortunate to have someone like you commanding them. "

"The Knights of Ren now have a record of Theo's coordinates in your star system," Poe reminded her. "Don't you think you should start looking for another place to hide?"

Himari's third eye shivered open, and Himari frowned slightly in confusion. Then she paled as she realized the extent of what Poe did not know. "Commander Poe," replied Himari, slightly disturbed. "Please do not tell me that you could not have suspected why Lord Theo is here?"

Poe felt a cold sliver of trepidation run up his spine. "Sorry?"

"Lord Theo came here, alone, without the aid of the other Knights. Lord Bacchus, or possibly also Lord Ben Solo, wanted him out of the way for a purpose. But I suspect Lord Bacchus is playing an intricate game pulling everyone's strings and flashing red herrings for a single purpose."

"His scheming wanted Theo out of the way…to kill a woman or a child?"

"Perhaps only a woman. And this could be a ruse for something else to blind his own master."

"To trap Kylo Ren and the Knights? Into what?"

"A trap laid by the rebels to finally bring the Order of Ren to justice."

"With Bacchus' help?"

The Lady Himari shrugged her shoulders. "You honestly cannot be so naïve as to think that your General Organa came out of her meeting with the Knights of Ren's Spymaster with practically nothing to show to the Republic but a spared home base."

"But that would mean that she used Rey, allowed her to be kidnapped, taken…to soften her son's defenses and…" Poe stepped back, his face turning pale, becoming numb with the dawning realization. "No. She wouldn't do that. Not to Rey. To her own son."

"To save the man that she and Rey both love."

 _Kylo Ren._ Poe's mouth curved downwards in disgust. But it justified nothing. It shouldn't. The rebellion he had signed up for would never have resorted to this. "And Rey…as always, ALWAYS, in this great plans and battles between the fucking Skywalkers and great men and women in power," Poe's voice cracked as he fought to keep his anger in check. "She gets kicked to the curb after her usefulness runs out. Used like a gutter whore. With nothing to show for it but a meaningless title of being the Last Jedi."

Himari made a gentle tch-ing sound at Poe's outburst. She walked to him and placed a cool, comforting hand on his cheek. "Do not be harsh, or unkind. Nobody thinks that way about Rey. It is not the fault of the Skywalkers that they are always borne up by the forces of peace or war that make or break the galaxy. Their bloodline is cursed with a power that they can hardly control," she replied gently. "Like that of the Halseys. And my brothers and I. But all these mean nothing when are alone and have no one to share our lives with."

"Rey just needs someone to take care of her, to make her feel like she's valuable, to make her feel loved. She is not a tool. I won't let it. Not General Organa, Bacchus, or fucking Kylo Ren."

"Nobody has ever forced her into anything. She has always made her own choices. She still has the choice to walk away from it all. As do you."

"She cannot make that choice unless she sees that she is being used."

"Then what are you doing talking to me, Commander, instead of actually going to her, protecting her, making her see that she still has the rest of her life before her?" Himari shook her head at him reproachfully. "You need to go, before Theo Halsey regains consciousness and remembers why he was here in the first place."

Poe glanced at Chewbacca, who moaned Shyriwook, "Are you done now? 'Cause I want to catch dinner in Maz Kanata's joint afterwards. I'm bloody starving." Poe laughed, and ran back to the cockpit of the Millenium Falcon with Chewbacca. Seconds later, Himari appeared out of thin air beside them. She patted BB8 and R2D2 as they chirped in binary that she was welcome to save Rey with them.

"The Halseys need to be with each other right now. And…" Himari hesitated. "It's time I meet my brothers again. Even if just in disguise."

Chewbacca moaned with concern, "Even without Theo, the other Knights of Ren are a force to be reckoned with. They will do everything to prevent anyone from getting to Rey."

Himari laid back against her chair and her third eye sleepily closed, as if to take a brief nap. "Before he corrupted younglings and formed them into the Knights of Ren, I was Snoke's apprentice and only student learning all his secret and forbidden ways of the Force. I taught the Halseys, who taught them." She smiled at Chewie. "They won't see me coming."

…..

Rey was surprised to see the hallways leading to Bacchus' secret enclave to be empty of stormtroopers or even of the ordinary droids that did the cleaning and electric maintenance work of the ship. As she followed the path that Bacchus and Rebecca took, and which was shown clearly by her Force senses, Rey began to suspect that this way was hidden inexplicably and deliberately from human detection, that it bespelled nearby passers to simply look the other way. Rey finally came before a half-opened door to a chamber that was dimly-illuminated by the lights of the stars from a vast window identical to the one Rey had in her bedroom. Silhouetted against it was Bacchus, his tall, slender form bent forward as he embraced Rebecca. She was weeping in his arms in a torrent of sobs, hard thumps of her fists against Bacchus' chest, and when Bacchus attempted a few soft words of comfort, screams of rage and hatred directed towards the patiently silent Spymaster. Rey turned around and leaned against the cool, black marble wall beside the door. She heard Rebecca's furious shouts of "You had no right to withdraw the Supreme Leader's amnesty for my sister!" and "The Fedwyr will pay for this with their children's hearts!"

Rey felt the air around her shiver soundlessly from an approaching tesseract and a second later, Kylo Ren appeared from the darkness. His pale face softened in relief when he saw Rey half-hidden at the entrance to Bacchus' chambers. Rey placed a finger to her lips to signal silence, and jerked her head towards the silhouettes of Bacchus and Rebecca beyond the half-opened door. Kylo paused and gazed at them, and for a brief moment, the light in his eyes lost their menacing glint and his red mouth turned slightly downwards, in an unmistakable gesture of sadness and sorrow.

Rey stood at Kylo's side and took his hand. He laced his fingers through hers as he continued to gaze at the couple before them silently.

"Is it true?" Rey whispered. "That you forgave Vittoria for all her crimes?"

Kylo closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, as he struggled to block the memory of Vittoria from his mind. "Yes."

"How did Bacchus kill her? Or was he too cowardly to do the deed?"

"Bacchus is bound by oath not to maliciously harm anyone in our Order. He would have paid with his life if she fell by his hand. And fear, much less cowardice, has never stopped him from doing what needs to be done." Kylo tugged at Rey's hand, and they started walking back to the gala. "She has simply reaped a small portion of suffering and death that she had been sowing for so many years. The Fedwyr star system merely asked for her life in exchange for their alliance to the First Order."

"And what about your own harvest, oh Supreme Leader? The great Kylo Ren?" Rey stopped and looked up into Kylo's inscrutable black gaze. "Don't you fear your own reaping?"

Kylo's gaze dropped to Rey's lips, and slowly, lingeringly, travelled on the smooth planes of her face. He released his hand from Rey's hold, and took off his glove. Rey swallowed nervously as his bare fingers traced the delicate line of her jaw and slipped into soft skin below her ear.

"I am already in agony. From wanting you. All of you, and knowing that I will never have my fill," he murmured. His lips curved slightly at her, but the helpless longing and bleak knowledge that he was entirely at her mercy pained him, and Rey could see it in his eyes. He had struggled against it, attempted to trivialize it by dismissing it as a weakness he thought he could vanquish. But this was a fight that he was always going to lose. "I will never be at peace until you are here by my side."

Rey fought against the torrent of sensations that Kylo's voice and caress always evoked from her body: her breathing had become more shallow, blood rushed to the surface of her skin and stained her lily-white complexion to a hot, fevered pink, and a tingling warmth poured out from the center of her and drained the strength from her legs. It frustrated Rey that Kylo could rely on her body reacting this way, without fail and almost like clockwork, to his presence.

Rey gently pulled away from his caress. Kylo softly but firmly leaned his weight towards hers, pushing her back against the wall. Rey closed her eyes involuntarily at the sweet friction of his warmth against the throbbing on her skin. Her lips opened slightly, and she bit her lip to keep herself from crying out as Kylo's knee parted her legs and he buried his hard, throbbing groin into the softness of her abdomen. Rey's next impulse was to tear apart the long, filmy material of her skirt, hook her knees around Kylo's hips and surrender to the sweet, blistering-hot pleasure of making love right there and then against the wall. She closed her eyes and took a long, shivering breath to steady herself and to drag a sane plan of action back to her thoughts.

 _Back to the gala, dinner, soiree or whatever these people called it. Lots of people to meet. Must make sure Kylo and his Knights are distracted enough for me to slip out_ , Rey forced herself to think. Kylo's hands were roaming over her hips and on the sides of her breasts. He had buried his face into the crook of her neck, and when his hands finally clutched Rey's buttocks and lifted her up, Rey felt his teeth grate on her skin as his mouth swooped on hers for a deep, breathless kiss.

 _STOP_ , she silently screamed at herself. The molecules of the air around them gathered and disintegrated once more as Kylo summoned a tesseract for both of them, and after a half-second of blinding pain, Rey found themselves inside a room where she had never been before: high-ceilinged, with a table filled with what Rey could briefly make out as neatly-arranged calligraphy equipment. A snowy-white bed lay in the center, but Kylo had no plans yet to lay her down on its downy sheets. Without breaking their kiss, he carried her and pushed her against nearest wall. Kylo's hand tore at the flimsy material of her underwear, and between breaths, he stopped his kiss and gazed down at her, his eyes black with desire, as he slipped a long, cool finger between the folds of her sex. Rey swooned, arching her back, digging her nails into the soft flesh of Kylo's nape as she clung to him for support; to her shock, she immediately came in his hand, a low guttural moan escaping from her throat, as her vagina contracted and quivered tightly around Kylo's finger. Breathing heavily, Kylo bent down and watched the tender muscles of Rey's sex gush a flood of her juices into his hand. Rey almost came again as she saw him slowly, almost reverently, put the soaked fingers into his mouth, his gaze flicking into hers, eager for her reaction. He slipped a finger again into her slick, wet folds while his thumb searched for her clitoris and began a gentle, rubbing motion on that swollen center. Rey desperately bit her lower lip to stop a scream of raw pleasure bursting from her mouth. When she felt the iron, tangy taste of her own blood, Kylo cradled her neck with his free hand and kissed her. He gently sucked the blood that had gathered at the base of her tongue and deepened his kiss even more as his tongue sought hers, drawing from her half-crazedly, desperately, as if he had been half-dead from thirst for days, and she was pool of icy-cold water in the middle of a desert. Rey felt the lancing heat of another orgasm tear through her once more, and she cried out, half in pain, half in bliss. Kylo steadied her, pressing his hand on the base of her spine as her hips buckled and quaked from the spasms of her pleasure. When it was all over, a sheen of salty, oily sweat covered her bare skin. Kylo bent down on her neck and the tops of her breasts and greedily sucked on such moisture, filling his tongue with her salty taste.

Rey roughly shoved Kylo away from her and scrambled to stand up. She hit him with a wave of the Force when he stood up to help her, and made a beeline for the center of the chamber. As she walked, Kylo watched she slowly peeled away her gown and the remains of her underwear, tossing them to the floor until she was able to reach the incredibly soft and downy surface of Kylo's bed. She dove into the pillows and buried her face into the pillows. A moment, a heartbeat, afterwards, Rey felt Kylo's weight beside her. Like her, he was completely naked, and Kylo purred blissfully as Rey ran her hands down his smooth, marble-hard torso.

"I love you." Rey heard him murmur as she straddled him, and guided his throbbing erection into the hot, silky tightness of her sex. She bent down to prevent him from speaking; Kylo dug his fingers into the flesh of her hips and buttocks and pushed upwards, pushing deeper into Rey. She gasped, and lost control of herself when Kylo slipped a finger to rub her clitoris and increased the frequency of his thrusts.

"I love you."

Theo woke up to a burning pain on the right side of his face. He was only able to open his right eye, and he saw a crude wooden ceiling decorated with chimes made up of shells, thin rope and roughly cut crystals hanging over his bed. A sore, swelling bruise forced his left eye shut. He rose and immediately felt the bruise numb the entire left side of his face. He activated his Force powers for a healing spell, but then he was immediately aware that he was not alone, and he looked up and saw two small forms at the far side of the room. They had attempted to hide in the half-darkness of a corner, but Theo could feel their excitement at seeing him awake. It emanated from them in waves that filled Theo with hope: an emotion that he had not felt for years, at least until the Lady Rey had come into the lives of the Knights of Ren like a shaft of warm, healing sunlight after a storm. The two children stared at him with wide, bright eyes, their faces anxious and half afraid of his presence. But he sat up and beckoned them to come closer. Their faces revealed by the dim light of the single lamp of the room took his breath away.

It was like travelling back in time, decades ago, long before he and his wife had become Jedi Knights, as he stared at replicas of himself and Sigurn when they were seven years old. These were the children of his dreams, who haunted his thoughts in his waking hours. He thought that he had only imagined those years he saw them growing from infants into the thin, sturdy children that stood before him now, silent, nervously clutching each other's hands as they waited for him to speak.

He had no words for them. He could spend the rest of his life staring at them, reveling in his joy that they were real and alive. Tears began streaming down his face, and its salty trails increased the pain from the wounds and swelling that contorted his face.

"Papa," the little girl called out hesitantly. Theo closed his eyes tightly, his euphoria at hearing those words meant for him almost choking the breath from his lungs.

"Please, don't cry," the girl continued. "Your bruise will get infected. Mama refuses to heal you."

"She is only acting stupid, Papa," the boy interjected. "Everyone is trying their best to convince her to change her mind."

Theo sat up and faced his children. His good eye opened and he saw them smile hesitantly at him.

"Didn't your mother teach you some basic healing spells?" He asked gently. "She should, you know. Those were the first things that your grandmothers taught us back in our village."

The children glanced at each other and gave him identical guilty grins. "She never taught us," the boy answered. "We learned a long, long time ago by, um…" He ignored his sister's low pleading _No, no, don't tell her, Tom!_ "…reading her mind."

"And she doesn't know…that you know?"

"Oh Papa," the girl giggled, and Theo could not help smiling at her childish, half-guilty glee. "We don't tell her everything. And I think she is just too angry right now to remember what we could do."

Theo pointed to the greenish-violet bruises on his face, and raised his eyebrows at them as if issuing a challenge. "Well then. Do your best."

"But she'll spank us for healing you."

"Not if I spank her first."

The twins introduced themselves to him, and Theo was pleasantly surprised at how Sigurn had used names from their old village in naming their children. The two explained to him as they performed an intricate healing spell that Sigurn had dumped him in the worst and dirtiest room in the castle before saying goodbye to the rebels flying the Millenium Falcon. Theo vaguely remembered his mission to assassinate Commander Poe Dameron. Detecting this intent from the surface of his father's thoughts, Tom asked if he was really serious about killing the greatest pilot in the galaxy.

Theo chuckled softly in reply. "He's not the greatest pilot. You should see the Supreme Leader. He was born to fly."

"Did you and mama really teach the Force to the prince Ben Solo, Papa, before he became evil?" Yvaine queried.

"To me, he was never evil, my duck. Unlike our other students, Ben Solo, and his foster brother Bacchus always acted out of their duty."

Tom wrinkled his nose thoughtfully. "I will never understand that. Mama speaks of it all the time, too. But I think I am like Commander Poe Dameron: we can never distinguish between what isn't evil or good."

Theo sighed. He cupped the side of his son's face and smiled tenderly at his earnest confusion. "Well, a small part of me wishes you stay that way. I'm not saying that both you and Commander Dameron are naïve. I just hope you will never be forced to discover the differences in between."

Yvaine hugged him impulsively. "I know what you mean, Papa. Our ocean here has different shades of blue, and even green and yellow. People's experiences are like that. And the more they hide their memories, the darker the blue, until they almost become black."

Theo looked at Yvaine in mild surprise. "That's right, my little darling. But you're still very young." He pressed a kiss on her forehead, and inhaled her baby scent of fresh butter, cookies and spring flowers. "I am here to protect you now," he vowed to her. "You will never have to know the grey areas."

Yvaine and Tom exchanged meaningful looks. Yvaine cocked her head to her side as if she was asking permission from her brother; Tom pursed his lips as a "no". Their father raised his eyebrow at them.

"Is there something you're not telling me?" Theo asked.

Tom hesitated before giving an answer. "Papa…Yvaine can foretell the future." Yvaine smiled sheepishly. "And from what she has seen, it is our job now, for the rest of our lives, to protect YOU."

…

The twins not only healed the bruises from his face, but also fixed half-healed and forgotten injuries that Theo could trace from even when he was still a child. When they were done, Theo's limbs and bones felt brand-new, fully-energized, and power surged under his skin into the tips of his fingers. He looked at his children in shock.

The twins took him on a tour of their run-down estate, and Theo saw the crest of the Organa family embossed in the wooden furniture and shown in faded colors of long-forgotten tapestries. He inhaled the scent of the sea mist that crashed against the base of the island, and heard the faint cries of sea birds swooping in and out of the waves feeding on schools of fish. They came to a grassy cliff that connected to the balcony entrance of the castle, and saw Sigurn staring into the horizon. The Millenium Falcon flying away from the island was silhouetted in the scarlet and sienna shades of the sunset.

Sigurn turned when she heard her children's chatter and the deep, quiet voice of Theo laughing and speaking to them in gentle tones. They were walking towards her, and Theo smiled when they made eye contact. Sigurn showed no reaction, but her eyes followed Theo, as he instructed their children to start making dinner preparations. He kneeled down and hugged each of them tightly before they waved to her and excitedly ran back to the castle.

A bold sea breeze blew from the sea, scattering strands of Sigurn's golden hair from her braid. Theo came to her, his forest-green eyes never leaving her emerald-blue ones, and he tucked her hair behind her ear. Sigurn involuntarily shivered from his touch. Theo smiled, and without a word, cupped Sigurn's chin in his hand and kissed her.

Heat radiated from her skin as Theo wrapped his arm around Sigurn's waist. She ran her hands over his shoulders and rested them on his nape, clutched his thick, dark auburn hair that was now slightly peppered with a few gray strands, and she pulled him closer to her, deepening the kiss. Blood roared in their ears, and they became half-crazed with desire. Theo had a half-thought to rip his wife's clothes using the Force and making love to her right there and then when Sigurn suddenly remembered that they were not alone, and their children were probably watching them from the kitchens. She pulled away from their kiss, from Theo's tight grip on her hips, and her breath came out in ragged puffs from her half-open lips. Theo likewise struggled to steady his breathing and he ran a thumb over his wife's swollen, ruby-reddened lower lip. Sigurn swallowed with effort and closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again, Theo was a half foot away from her, staring at the sea, at the horizon that was now dimming and darkening to the purple shades of an early evening.

"Well then," Sigurn ventured. "I guess there's no need to tell each other 'I missed you too'."

Theo chuckled. "No. But you have some explaining to do. Starting with how." He gave her a pained, deeply-haunted look. "I saw you die with my own eyes. All these years that I thought I had lost you and the twins and yet saw them in my dreams and day visions as alive, thriving and possessed of powers of their own…and yet here you are."

"I needed to protect them. You were too enthralled by Ben Solo's powers that you could not see how Snoke was using him to forge a connection to the children in my womb. Master Luke knew. He was able to see it from my visions. He sought help from a friend who was even more powerful than him to protect me and our unborn children. The crash that you and the other padawans saw was a powerful illusion. In truth, I was made to go through a tesseract to reside in this place that once belonged to a knight loyal to the royal family of General Organa. The last of their bloodline, an aging princess who was also a Force User, helped me raise the twins. When she died, our only company was our protector, who came in every now and then to check on our welfare. "

Theo's face darkened; he was deeply disturbed at Sigurn's words, but over the years, he'd eventually come to know that what she said about Snoke and Ben Solo were true. He tightened his fists in despair. "I am sorry, my love," he whispered achingly.

Sigurn embraced him and buried her face on his chest. She sought Theo's lips again, and they poured the loneliness and heartbreak of the long years that they'd been apart in their kiss. When they finished, Theo pressed soft kisses on Sigurn's closed, tear-stained eyelids, her high Nordic cheekbones, trailing down to the sweet fragrance of lilies and sea salt that emanated from her neck.

"I mourned you. I continued to mourn you and our children, I kept seeing your faces everywhere, and my mind was never at rest, until years later when the Lady Rey recognized me despite never having seen me before in her life. I knew then that she had seen my likeness. That she had seen Tom."

"They never listen to me. I bound their powers so that they won't abuse them in trying to communicate with you. When Snoke died and I became sure that Kylo Ren did not inherit his skill to bridge minds using the Force, it was only then that I allowed them to seek you out again. I never imagined that someone who was more powerful, who did not need to learn the dark arts, found us on her own. Like the twins, she was lonely. She was seeking other Jedi to teach her the ways of the Force."

"The Lady Rey is a wonder. She doesn't know the depth of her powers. Despite all that she had suffered in her cruel and brutal life, she has never succumbed to the Dark Side of the Force." Theo doubled back, and thought of the moments of hot, manic passion that she had seen between Rey and Kylo Ren. "Well, perhaps, excepting this connection she has with the Supreme Leader. They cannot resist each other. Much like you and me when we were young."

"You don't have to call Ben the Supreme Leader now. You are free of him, and of them." Sigurn pleaded to him. "You joined their Order because you thought you had lost us, your real family. Now that Snoke is dead, our children are out of danger. Stay."

Theo leaned his forehead to Sigurn's and closed his eyes. They listened to the soft sounds of the waves crashing at the base of the cliff, and their children's laughter from the castle. Theo grinned down at his wife, who gave him a dazzling smile.

They walked back to the castle just as they heard Tom and Yvaine call out to them in loud voices that their food was ready.

"So soon? What could they have possibly cooked?"

Sigurn laughed. "It's for you to find out. You've no choice now that your ship's been blown to smithereens."

As they were on their way, Theo ruminated on Sigurn's story, and realized that she had never told him the name of their protector. Or…knowing her, Theo suspected that she was deliberately leaving out that part of the tale.

"Sigurn," he ventured. He paused and his wife smiled up at him, her blue eyes wide and innocent. Theo stared deeply and waited for the inevitable flicker in them to tell him that he was right, that she was deliberately hiding something.

Or someone.

"If your protector wasn't Master Luke, who was possibly the most powerful Jedi in recent history…then who?"

Sigurn pursed her lips. Theo waited and did not break eye contact, the way that he used to when they were children, knowing that this was the only way that he could break her resolve in keeping something from him."

Sigurn tore her eyes away and gave a slight shake of her head.

"Sigurn!" Theo insisted.

"You already know." Sigurn looked at him guiltily. "Who else could it have been?"

Theo could feel the blood draining from his face, and he looked at his wife in utter shock. All his years in the Order of Ren, vanquishing entire races and planets, destroying civilizations in the name of the Sith, did not prepare him for this.

"The Lord of Wrath."

"Seriously?" Chewbacca slapped his knee and leaned back in helpless laughter after Himari regaled him with a brief history of her life using Shyriiwook. Poe was intensely concentrating on navigating the Millenium Falcon at ultra-slow speeds through the intricate and constantly moving, neutrino burst-protected belt of floating rocks, asteroids and space rubble that surrounded Lenthys like a sheath. Chewbacca and droids were having the time of their lives laughing at Himari's jokes. "THAT was your handle? Are you fucking kidding me?"

Himari grinned foolishly. "The Lord of Wrath."

"Who would give you such a desperately corny name?"

"My former master, of course. Planets used to surrender without the slightest struggle when they heard it being announced by our heralds. You are the only one who laughed at it, as I recall."

"Guys! Guys! Please, I need silence," Poe cried out, gritting his teeth. He was soaked in his sweat and he was still not halfway through the Belt. This was the first time in his life that he was having the most difficult time flying a spacecraft. He wished he was back in Lenthys, dipping his arms that were now sore from hours of navigating, into the ice-cold, dragon-infested waters surrounding the Halseys' castle.

"I asked you if you needed help hours ago," Himari reminded him. "You said you could handle it."

"If Theo went past this on his first time, or his ship did on auto-pilot after the Knights of Ren figured out a path despite never having been here, then I can frieking handle this."

"Alright, fly-boy."

An hour later, Poe was half-crying in frustration, and he had unbuttoned his pilot's suit and shirt, declaring loudly to Himari and Chewbacca who were coolly enjoying the airconditioner on full blast that the cockpit was as hot as a forge.

He heard Himari's loud, exasperated sigh, and he felt himself being lifted off his chair by an invisible force and deposited in the bench near R2D2 and BB8, who both chirped to him that he was still their hero. Himari took over the controls as navigator and pilot.

"Watch and learn."

Rey stared at the torn remnants of her robotic dress on the floor, and then at Kylo who was sleeping face down on his bed. She was pleasantly weakened by the last orgasm she had shared with Kylo; it drained Kylo of his strength but left Rey smiling in a state of blissful exhaustion. As Kylo slept and slipped into an even deeper state of slumber, Rey gently moved his arm that he had possessively draped around Rey's sweat-dampened hips, and slipped out of his bed. Her vagina felt deliciously bruised and raw, and a sticky and hot fluid was trickling down her thighs. Its strong smell indicated to Rey that Kylo had came deep inside her, sowing batch after batch of semen into her womb. If he had not fallen asleep, Rey knew that Kylo would have carried on, ravishing her skin, her mouth, her breasts and sex with a consistent manic energy.

 _"_ _I am already in agony,"_ he had said, his gaze pinning her to where she stood, rendering her immobile. _"From wanting you. All of you. Knowing that I will never have my fill."_

Rey could hear sounds of laughter and conversation from the hundreds of guests that had gathered after Kylo's summoning, as well boisterous band and party music echoing from the Training Hall. This was the most important night of his life and that of the Order of Ren, and yet he could not even tear himself away from being with her. He wondered if Bacchus and Rebecca had returned to the gala and helped the Souka twins hold the fort without their Supreme Leader in sight. She should never have gone out, knowing Kylo would follow her.

 _"_ _Don't you fear your own reaping?"_ she had asked him early that night.

Kylo had stared at her, giving her a meaningful look of pain mixed with the blissful recklessness of someone who had completely surrendered to something he should avoid.

 _He is my vice, too. My only downfall,_ Rey thought. She remembered Master Luke's words "You opened yourself to the Dark side for a pair of pretty eyes." But it didn't have to mean that she could not go back and pull herself away back to the former life she had lived of complete freedom, far and away from the games of war and power being played, gambled and won between the warriors of the Republic and another group of zealots led by someone of the Skywalker bloodline.

It was the perfect opportunity to escape. Rey could feel no Ysalamiri crystals surrounding Kylo's bedroom to restrict the use of her Force powers. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, willing her mind's eye to map out the entire ship. It was the first time that she was able to do so, and she was shocked at how huge the craft actually was, like an entire workable city just floating in space. There was close to five thousand now aboard this ship, mostly the guests of the First Order. She could disguise herself among them and steal or board a ship unnoticed, going to who knows where.

It was now or never. She had said farewell to Kylo in the best way she knew how, and forged a throve of memories filled with passion and intense desire that could last for the rest of her lifetime.

It was enough, Rey decided. She anticipated long nights of being alone again, in the middle of nowhere, with only the stars above her to remind her of this time of her life. Both of us will move on, and we will be nothing more than memories.

Rey picked up her tattered dress and was surprised that it still covered a decent portion of her body without looking like she had been set upon by rabid wolves. As she put on her shoes, she noticed an arrangement of onyx panels beside the door to Kylo's bathroom. She easily saw that behind them were meticulously-arranged piles and hangers of stylish robes and apparel, as well as mini towers of boxes made of customized, hand-crafted shoes. She looked for the smallest scrap of female clothing, but could find none.

She remembered that her dress could be programmed to take on any style or material that she wanted, and using her Force skills, she willed the circuits of the dress to form into a sleeveless pantsuit made up of black silk for her bodice and stiff collar, and the cloth covering her legs to be incredibly soft, black chiffon. She was still going to slightly teeter as a result of the four-inch stiletto heels, but she was getting used to them, and she rather found it challenging and fun to balance the weight of her body almost on tiptoes.

Now fully-dressed, Rey instinctively turned towards the door to make her exit. She glanced back briefly at Kylo's sleeping, heavily muscled form. She gritted her teeth and bit her lip hard as she mentally fought back her tears. She finally willed the door to open before her and, without a parting word, without even making a sound, she was gone.

"Whoah."

Himari was the only one in the cockpit who wasn't taken by surprise at the sheer size of the Knights of Ren's mother ship. The First Class Destroyer craft before them was the biggest and most technologically advanced starship they had ever seen. Hundreds of small star ships and TIE fighters were landing inside it or patrolling its surface. Poe and Chewbacca leaned forward after Poe's exclamation, staring at it appreciatively, almost in reverence.

"It's still a ship, full of systemic loopholes and secret passageways that we can find and use to our advantage," Himari said to them.

"It is even more advanced than the Supremacy, and that baby was extremely difficult to get into," Poe observed.

Himari shrugged. "You can stay here, all of you, while I get Rey. It won't take long. I will just cloak this ship and its systems and disguise it as a First Order supply pod. We can slip inside the hangar, find Rey, and get out in the same way we came."

"I'm coming with you, my Lady," Poe protested. "There will be soldiers, stormtroopers, delusional tyrants and Sith knights who will try to kill you if you get near Rey." Himari slightly shook her head at him. "I won't be in your way."

"You WILL be on my way. But never mind. I need a pilot, and you—" she pointed at BB8 "Come with us too. I heard that you singlehandedly saved that renegade stormtrooper Finn and the remaining Tico sister back in Canto Bight."

BB8 scoffed that without him, the two would have still been rotting in prison with that traitor Deejay. And as a side fact, he chirped in binary, he still had several of the coins and chips from that adventure rattling somewhere in his motherboards.

Poe rolled his eyes and smiled teasingly at his droid. "Show-off," he said. A small hatch opened at BB8's main body, and out came a robotic arm with a single finger flashing straight at the pilot in reply.

"Hey!" Poe shouted in disbelief. Chewbacca and R2D2 laughed, and Himari walked out of the cockpit to the privacy of Rey's quarters to change her clothes.

Rey didn't think it would be easy to make her way to an abandoned hangar where a small, fully stocked and impeccably calibrated starship was already parked, as if it had been waiting for her. Rey paused, anticipating an attack; she used the Force to detect any life signatures hiding at the corners, but she could sense none. It was all very bizarre, so of course she knew that it was a trap.

As she stepped forward and walked nearer to the starship, two figures materialized from beside the ship: the Souka twins. She felt someone behind her, and she turned briefly to see the fake Vittoria brandishing a long, spiked whip. Gone was the maniacal, evil light in her black eyes. Rey blinked and pushed using her mind's eye to see through her disguise and discern her real form. What happened to her shock was that the shapeshifter suddenly fell down to the floor, squirming and screaming loudly in pain, as Vittoria's porcelain skin and violet hair melted away to reveal a human-like lizard-shaped alien with double irises of various colors, a tail that trashed around her, and a long forked tongue.

Leo raised his arm with a calming spell, and the shapeshifter stilled, rendered immobile by a sudden bout of forced slumber. He took the alien in his arms and laid her down by the farthest wall. Marcus stepped forward towards Rey.

"My Lady," he said, readying himself for any attack as lightning streamed out of his palm and wreathed his wrists and arms. "We request for your return to the Supreme Leader's chambers."

"I will not be his prisoner any longer." Rey gave him a meaningful look. "Even you agree with me on this. There IS a first time for everything."

"We have our orders from the Lord Spymaster. You cannot leave this ship."

Leo walked to his brother's side, and his gaze was softer, filled more with concern with Rey than a heightened sense of caution and readiness. "Please, my Lady," he urged.

Rey looked up at the ship. "And yet this ship was primed for immediate departure at least an hour ago. Were you expecting me? Do I earn this ship and the right to leave if I defeat the two of you?"

Marcus shook his head at her. "It doesn't have to get to that if you will just come back with us. I'm sorry, my Lady, but Lord Kylo will soon wake, and he will be searching for you. The gathering of allies above us will also need to see you again by his side. We ask of you for the last time: please do not leave."

Rey glanced down, and a small smile curved at the corner of her lips. "Very well then." She disappeared almost in an instant, with only a slight quavering in the air to show her previous position. His eyes trickling black blood from the corner of his eyelids from tracking Rey's movement, Leo cried out to his brother in warning, but it was too late. Rey appeared out of thin air behind Marcus and dealt a hard, staggering blow on his spine. Marcus fell down to the floor, his back crooked in a grotesque angle, and he yelped in pain for his brother's help. Leo gritted his teeth as Rey disappeared once more, but he was able to block her attack from behind. He took her wrists with both hands and turned without losing his grip. He swept a foot to unbalance Rey's legs, but she gave him a victorious smile and used the Force to raise herself up in the air, carrying Leo with her. Despite the iron grip on her wrists, Rey was able to flick them at another angle to open her palms straight at Leo's face so that he received the full brunt of the most savage repelling spell she could muster. Leo still would not release his grip on her, and as a result, he took her with him as he was thrown hard against the marble wall, his back forming a considerable crater. Leo coughed blood as the blunt force slammed into his lungs and spine. Rey began to feel afraid for him.

"Release me!" she called out. "I want to heal you."

"Promise me you won't leave then," Leo rasped back at her.

"Fool!"

Leo screamed in pain as his fingers were suddenly forced to soften their grip on her arms by an unknown, more superior power. Rey was pulled back, and to her amazement, she saw a transfixed Poe and BB8 who kept on hopping excitedly beside him standing at the door with a small, hooded figure. Their companion had her arm raised towards Leo, and her other arm gracefully conducted Rey to stand before Poe. Rey looked up into Poe's soft brown eyes, now wild with relief at seeing her safe, and she wrapped her arms around his neck in a furious hug. Poe embraced her in return, burying his face into her hair. When they pulled back from each other, they were laughing, half in joy and in shock. Poe cradled Rey's face in his hands and planted a kiss on her sweat-dampened forehead.

Through the keen, rapidly spreading pain from his injuries, Leo watched the reunion between Poe and Rey with dismay. He realized that this was the first time that he had seen Rey laugh in utter surprise at seeing someone whom she clearly loved as a friend, or perhaps more than that, alive and safe after what seemed like years since their last meeting. He struggled to sit straight against the debris and cracks of the wall behind him. Someone at his side placed a steady hand on his shoulders to help him. It was the pilot's companion with the deep cowl, who had so easily obliterated his strength with a single wave of his or her hand. To Leo's surprise, the stranger was starting a healing spell for his injuries. Leo smiled up into the heavily shadowed cowl.

"I will only heal you enough so that you will live, set your bones straight, and leave no permanent damage that will prevent you from using your powers."

The voice from the stranger sounded superficially deep, as if he or she was deliberately disguising his voice to sound more male.

"Whoever you are," Leo replied quietly, "This is more than I deserve. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Leo."

There was something familiar about the tone he or she used in saying his name. Leo tore his gaze away from Rey and peered confusedly at his unknown healer. He attempted to use the Force to probe the stranger's mind and learn his secrets, but he found himself at a heavily-guarded mental fortress of a highly powerful Force User. Leo still felt the stranger smile at him, and inexplicably, he found this gesture strangely familiar and oddly comforting.

"I'm sorry, but have I met you before?"

"No time for that, my Lord." The stranger answered, as he ended his healing spell and soundlessly walked over to Marcus. Leo tried to stand up to be nearer to his brother, but the stranger held up a thin, delicate hand. There was again that familiar wave of Force energy that rendered him immobile. Leo watched as the hooded stranger began another healing spell for Marcus.

"Tell me please," Leo tried again. "Why do you know my brother and I? Who are you?"

"You have always known me." Marcus moaned Leo's name in pain as he regained consciousness after the stranger finished his healing spell. Rey made a move to rush to his side, but Poe held back her arm, saying that they needed to get back. The stranger briefly placed his palm on top of Marcus' head and Leo watched in fascination as Marcus' eyes closed sleepily and he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. Leo struggled to stand up, leaning back on the wall for support, as he observed the stranger going back to Poe and Rey. As Poe told Rey about the shortest route of escape that they had taken from the Millenium Falcon, the cowled stranger turned to gaze at the twins again. Leo felt a wave of intense affection, even love, from such a figure. Leo reached out his hand to him almost by instinct; the stranger moved forward as if to take it, but then held himself back and stood still.

"Goodbye Leo," Rey called out to him. She gave him a brief, wistful smile. "And please relay my farewell to your brother, and of course, to Bacchus and Rebecca." She glanced at Fedwyr shapeshifter that was still an unconscious heap at the other side of the room. "And I'm sorry about your friend."

"Please," Leo interjected. "The safest route to the hangar where your ship might be parked is through the underground engineering sector. Do not pass by the hallways. There are still guests and spies everywhere, and Bacchus, Rebecca, or even Lord Kylo might see you, and stop you."

"There's no need for such a ploy. I know a shortcut," the cowled stranger spoke. He raised her hand, and the space behind them suddenly shivered and rearranged to form an adult-sized tesseract. Leo's mouth dropped in shock as BB8, Poe and Rey went through it. The stranger hesitated before following them, took one last look at Leo, then disappeared.

Leo fell to his knees, and stared in bleak amazement at the empty floor before him, the pain from his injuries forgotten. He was still in physical and mental shock when Bacchus and Rebecca entered the room. Rebecca rushed to Marcus' side and Bacchus knelt in front of Leo. There was a ringing in his ears that wouldn't go away, until Bacchus shouted a couple of times and shook his shoulders to bring him out of his horrified state.

"Himari," Leo mumbled in reply, though he hadn't heard Bacchus or anyone ask a question. "She's alive."

 **+++++++++++End of Chapter Six +++++++++++++++++  
**  
 _Thank you for the reviews! I'm sorry for the delayed release of this chapter, and for the minimal #reylo. I was simply too caught up with the other Knights of Ren._ **  
**


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter Seven**_

"Poe."

There she was: strands of freed brown hair framing her starkly familiar delicate-boned face that had been emblazoned in Poe's memory for so long, haunting him even in the brutally-brief hours of deep sleep. Rey's eyes filled up with tears when she saw him. The corners of her lips bent down when she said his name, the slight quaver in her voice spoke to Poe of her relief at seeing him again. He didn't know how, but suddenly she was in his arms again, and he sighed in relief as she yielded to his embrace. His nostrils filled with the scent of her hair, his lips opened and tasted the thin sheen of perspiration from her skin. For a second that Poe wanted to last forever, he wished he could just lose himself into her again.

A sob from a shocked female voice broke through his thoughts. "My sister did not die for this!" Poe heard the roar of an activated Khyber crystal and he opened his eyes and fumbled for his gun as he saw a pink-haired black-clad knight charge towards them with a blazing violet lightsaber. Before he could fire, Rey pushed him away and raised her arm above them, releasing a Force Wave that cascaded around them in a protective dome.

The pink-haired knight cried at Rey, grimacing in pain and anger.

"Leave him! He means no harm!" Rey answered her, blocking the Knight's sight of Poe with her body. "I will go willingly with you."

"He's the reason Theo has disappeared! That Vittoria was unprotected! Tell me, you rebel filth," she screeched at Poe, "Where did you dump his body!"

Poe suddenly felt numbing pressure sealing his lips, preventing him from answering. He heard the soft shifting sounds of Himari materializing beside him from the shadows and smelled her subtle perfume of spring flowers and the tang of burned metal and sulfur from a tesseract. Poe tried to raise himself up, but Himari stopped him with a wave of her hand as her delicately-arched, bare feet landed on the cold metal floor before the soft, voluminous folds of her pure-white robe covered them up again.

The female Knight's lightsaber fell and clanged loudly as it hit the metal floor. Her face was blanched white in shock before Himari. Her mouth opened and closed soundlessly, as if she was struggling to form words to plead for her life.

"Cutting off a tesseract, Your Highness," Himari whispered to the Knight, "was extremely impolite." Her voice was soft and low, but the menace in her words was clear and searing, sending a bolt of icy trepidation up Poe's spine.

For a split second, Poe remembered the first time he met Himari as the auburn-haired child with empty and darkened eye sockets. She now stood still facing a black-garbed Knight of Ren, the intricate braids and waves of her auburn hair flowing down her back like dragon scales. Her hands peeped from her bleached gown, and they were small and fragile like a child's. Himari was still and calm as the inward drawing of breath before a storm, and she radiated wave after wave of cold-hot, burning power that raked at the surface of Poe's mind like metallic talons.

Poe can only imagine the agony Himari was inflicting on the Knight of Ren that she had addressed "Your Highness". He remembered from Resistance intel the Knights of Ren included the two princesses of Holdo whom Kylo Ren had seduced, and who had enslaved their entire planet to the First Order as a tribute. The eldest, Alice Ren, was a sadistic maniac who coupled brief attacks of mental pain and torture to her physical onslaughts. The pink-haired princess before them did not invade their minds. She could be too frightened of Himari attempt it, but the Knight's display of hesitation indicated to Poe that she was the younger sister, Rebecca Ren. The "reasonable one", Leia had once said, the diplomatic one who should have inherited the crown instead of Alice who forced her sister to go along with her treachery.

"Master Himari, a thousand apologies." The Knight's voice was choked with fear. Himari tensed slightly in response.

Another black-clad Knight suddenly appeared in front of Rebecca and raised his arm towards them. Poe felt a cyclone-like assault of the Force battering down the invisible shield that Rey had created, but it held unwaveringly. Himari turned towards Poe, and gave him a soft, sad smile.

"Say your goodbyes." Himari's head tilted slightly at Rey. "She has yet to say hers to her hosts."

"What do you mean?" Rey asked, staring at Poe in alarm. Poe turned pale, but he locked his fingers closely in Rey's, and stared deep into her eyes, feeling like this was the last time they would ever meet.

A hundred different phrases ran through Poe's mind as he struggled for a few seconds on what he would say. Rey shook her head and cupped his hollow cheeks with her hands.

"Take care of Finn and Rose," Rey said. "And the General—there is nothing to forgive between us. I understand, and…I know. Please tell her, Poe."

"I'll find you." The words rushed out of him, but he didn't want to waste another moment delaying the one thing he had longed to do. Poe bent down and gave Rey a brief kiss, willing himself to remember every detail of this moment: her taste as sweet as fresh butter, her subtle fragrance of newly-opened spring blossoms. He leaned back from their kiss and opened his eyes. His fingertips ghosted over the exquisite planes of her anxious, troubled face. His expression softened tenderly, as her large beautiful eyes quivered with uncertainty and surprise. "Rey…No matter how long it takes—"

Rey gripped his wrists, tears filling her eyes, unwilling for him to leave her, but Poe felt the keen, crushing pain of Himari's power squeezing his body into a tesseract. Only Rey's voice remained, calling his name, before a blackness overtook him, and his next immediate sensation was falling painfully on the hard metal tiles of an aircraft hangar bay. A warm furry arm wrapped around his shoulders to steady him and then carry his weakened body to the Medical bay. He heard Finn and Rose's voices calling his name, but it was Chewbacca's low, anxious moans that rumbled beside him, confirming his one greatest fear: "She's not here. But you're safe now. You're safe."

Kylo jolted awake and he inhaled sharply, opening his eyes wide to see the vast and empty darkness of the ceiling before him. The sound of Rey sobbing and calling out for someone echoed in his ears, causing his heart to beat hard and painfully in his ribcage. His hand shot out automatically beside him, and he rose in panic when he felt a space where Rey should have been. Kylo scanned his chambers, but there was no trace of Rey except for the bare remnant of her scent: the distinct perfume of wild desert flowers that filled his nostrils and intoxicated him into the comforting, dreamless state of sleep that always overtook him after they made love.

 _Where is she_ , he swung his long legs to the side of his bed and reached for the pile of his silk and velvet clothes on the floor. Flashbacks of their quick and intense lovemaking intruded through the panic at her absence. Kylo closed his eyes and afforded himself a few precious seconds to recall the way Rey had slipped out of her blue gown, a faint pink blush staining the milky-white, porcelain-smooth skin of her cheeks and the tops of her round breasts. She had pushed him down the bed, used the Force to open the fastenings of his pants and shove them halfway down his thighs, her mouth slightly opening with a gasp as her fingers found his rigid penis. Kylo had half-raised himself with an elbow and took her delicate jaw with his free palm as she took him inside her and rubbed her engorged clitoris against the hardened veins of his erection. Kylo had shoved his thumb inside her parted lips and moved his hips upward, slowly sheathing his entire throbbing length inside her tight, scorching wetness.

Kylo clenched his fist at the memory of Rey quickly reaching her climax: she bit on his thumb hard, a swift guttural gasp of breath escaping from her clenched teeth, drawing blood that flowed to her tongue as her vagina clenched his manhood in a painful grip before it undulated and released a torrent of feminine liquid leaking from the quivering lips of Rey's labia into the thick mat of Kylo's pubic hair. Kylo remembered its sweet, musky perfume filling the humid air around them before he gripped Rey's sweat-dampened hips with his hands and came deep and hard inside her, his hard, clipped nails raking the soft flesh of her buttocks.

Kylo took a few breaths to calm the raging need in his veins: this was no time to invoke his need of her. Rey was gone, and there was a nagging phantom of a Force vision pulling at the edges of his mind's-eye: of the rebel commander Poe finding and embracing Rey, the both of them facing Rebecca. A lance of pure fear pierced Kylo's chest as he saw the ghost of the Lady Himari, and a masked Bacchus desperately releasing his inner store of Force energy to save Rebecca from her attacks. Kylo wanted to dismiss it as a mere, feverish phantom conjured up by backroom of his subconscious thoughts. But the prickling at the back of his neck as he remembered the black stare from Himari's ravaged eye sockets indicated to him that this was just the beginning of something far more ominous.

He needed the power of the Force. As he walked out of his chambers, he banished his thoughts and immediate sensations from his mind's eye. He ordered his consciousness to concentrate on a point, and to a smaller and even more imperceptible base of reference until he could feel the sway and the pull of the Force enter him.

He sensed the Force signatures of the crowd of guests that were still dancing and enjoying themselves in the converted Receiving Wing of the ship. The thousands more of the First Order's crew who were in full alert, anticipating an incoming fleet to arrive at any moment from hyperspace. Bacchus had carefully laid his trap, and the First Order's guests needed entertainment. Only a couple of hours more, Kylo ascertained. And when their enemies are defeated, Rey will be by his side, and his Knights at the other: all of them ready to finally bring peace to the galaxy, something that his parents' lifelong rebellion against the Republic was never able to achieve.

Kylo finally traced the Force signatures of Bacchus, the Soukas and Rebecca congregating in an abandoned hanger of the ship. He paused as he sensed something else: the disappearing ring-shaped remnants of a powerful, familiar tesseract. Cold bands of fear coursed through his veins when he recognized the Force signature of its Maker.

So it wasn't a dream. He had heard her call out his old name, seen her narrow face framed by flaming auburn tresses, serious and yet smiling, her violet-eyed gaze piercing through his old fears and insecurities. She has returned.

The frightened faces of his Knights immediately flashed in his mind, and Kylo began to run. He summoned his cross-guard lightsaber, and its ruby-red blade flashed to life before it reached his hand.

"I suppose they're all there, General. Getting sloshed, having a good time. It will be a fun turkey shoot."

Leia briefly closed her eyes against the neon hologram of Lord Warrick Holdo, the leader of the Opposition bloc of the remainder of the Galactic Senate, chortling and blinking on her communicator. The Resistance Rebels' headquarters was stationed in a hidden islet in the deserted planet Vaklin, a long-time ally of the Jedi Order and the Rebels. She had just spent the last three hours communicating with the surviving Opposition Bloc members explaining her mission to entrap and arrest the First Order allies and politicians in the Flag Ship of the Order of Ren. Their hologram conference had been streamed to an emergency, inter-planetary quorum of the Galactic Senate. The Opposition bloc in the Senate had finally been shocked into accommodating an audience for Leia because of the throve of First Order intelligence from Bacchus. Leia gave a lengthy speech about the urgent need to apprehend the First Order and force them to face justice for what they did to Hosnian Prime and the New Republic. The quorum Senators voted to hand over the command of the salvaged Imperial Navy to Leia, and its frigates were now accompanying the Resistance's Star Fleet as they travelled in full stealth mode to the Order of Ren's location.

"I trust that you still have the full support of that high-ranking turncoat who provided you intel," Lord Holdo asked her for what was probably the tenth time within the last six hours. "You and your spies assured us that we will not be falling into a trap."

"If it was a trap, my Lord, we will have a fleet of hundreds of star fighters and bombers ready to eliminate them in one sweep," the General replied almost exasperatedly. "The Lady Maz Kanata verified this intelligence herself. The Order of Ren and its allies are celebrating the change of leadership from the vicious hold that Snoke has had for almost a decade. They will not be ready for a fight."

"I still find it hard to believe that all of them would slither out of hiding and gather in one place, at one time. What would be worth such a risk?"

General Leia's beautiful face expressed a thin, mirthless smile. "Does it really matter?"

Lord Holdo raised a feathered eyebrow at him, his gaze piercing through the hologram messaging interface to stir the unease that had been stirring in General Leia's chest.

Leia knew that the Galactic Senators must not know about Ben and Rey, Poe, about Bacchus, and the tangle of twenty-something, hormone-driven complications that laid on top of the entire operation. Especially when Warrick himself was only half a decade older than the Holdo sisters themselves, and barely as mature or self-possessed. "The intel provided by the First Order's Spymaster detail the harrowing depth of trauma and psychological abuse that Snoke inflicted on his knights to manipulate them. The brunt of these attacks were suffered by their leader, Kylo Ren, who himself killed Snoke out of desperation. They are still reeling from the power vacuum brought on by Snoke's death. They are still consolidating their power, and this is our one chance to arrest every one of them when they have been forced to call out an assembly of their allies to assure themselves of their hold to the empire."

"Fine words. I can see why my aunt Amilyn was so in love with you."

"That's ADMIRAL Amilyn Holdo to you, Senator," Leia snapped, gritting her teeth. Warrick snickered. Frantically re-assembling her ice-cold, poker-faced demeanor, Leia quickly imagined his intestines being torn apart by cannibalistic Ewoks, and immediately calmed down.

Leia couldn't help herself as she compared the gutless, cowardly Warrick Holdo to the other members of his aristocratic family. The females of his clan were always the strongest of their generation, and Leia found herself wishing that it should have been Admiral Amilyn Holdo who entered the Galactic Senate instead of her nephew. Warrick had skedaddled to his mother's home planet Chandrila when Vittoria, backed by her sister Rebecca, succeeded to their father's throne. Instead of taking a stand against his first cousins, he became a neutral back bencher in the Galactic Senate until the Hosnian massacre forced him to engage with General Leia as part of the mere hundreds that had remained of the millions-strong assembly.

Leia resisted the urge to use the Force to reach Warrick half a galaxy away and briefly, violently, smack him in the forehead. Over the decades, she had become slightly adept at manipulating the Force to save herself and her precious ragtag band of rebels from desperate situations. Han and Luke had suspected it until she became actively involved in the Senate and it became apparent that the Force held no sway at all in changing the minds of politicians and big-time stakeholders.

"Your Imperial troops will only make arrests, Senator Warrick," Leia continued. "No one is killing anyone. That was the deal I had with the First Order's Spymaster when he pled for the lives of his comrades."

"Yes, the turncoat. And what about the other Knights of Ren? Their leader, this Jedi-Killer named Kylo?" Lord Holdo sneered, slightly shaking his head. "No one authorized you, Senator, to accord them full immunity."

"They will face trial in Nakadia. They will have mitigated sentences. He has assured me that they will testify to corroborate information from the defector, Armitage Hux, and implicate the thousands who have aided Snoke's rise to power."

"They were the perpetrators, the henchmen, the commanders. Everyone else obeyed their whims, and you know that fully well, General. I know that your family is intimately connected with the Holdos" _—Leia raised an eyebrow at him and she bit down a verbal barb to remind him that he himself was part of that clan too, the little prick—_ "and the last surviving prince of the du Eclairages. I know you. You are part of the rot itself. You're just going to let them get away and let their minions take the fall."

Leia inhaled deeply and shoved her hands into the deep pockets of her robes. She clenched and unclenched her fingers, waiting a few seconds until her temper simmered down, and the urge to sink an activated lightsaber between Warrick's thick eyebrows passed.

This was a far cry from what her own biological father had been known to do to men like Warrick: without warning, raising them up by their larynxes, and choking the air out of them with a single flick of his finger.

But Leia was more a Jedi than Anakin Skywalker had ever been. Her mother's heart and sheer will to serve the helpless and the less fortunate was strong in her, though she was occasionally prone to daydreams of brief violence to people who tested her patience. She doubted her mother Padme ever lost her patience with anyone. Loving a man like Anakin…Darth Vader…a woman like that would have no mental or emotional threshold whatsoever.

Leia owed it to the legacy of her parents: Padme, Bail and Behar Organa to secure a peaceful, non-violent resolution for the Galaxy.

"As I explained for a full hour earlier, everyone will be accounted for and brought to the Galactic Court for trial and sentencing. I recall that you are actually one of the Justices rendering judgment for that Court. My power and influence ends where your jurisdiction begins."

"When they are apprehended, I assure you, General, that I shall vote for these criminals to get the maximum penalty."

 _Ugh._ Leia's nostrils flared impatiently. A brief vision of herself kicking the Senator in the mouth and shouting down at his flabbergasted face _Get your mouth out of your ass, you mealy-mouthed pillock!_ flashed in her mind. She had to invoke a great deal of self-control to maintain her half-sleepy poker face, the one she had perfected through decades-long practice when talking to politicians, and which Han had particularly hated.

"I shall update you when our Fleet arrives at their destination. Goodbye, Senator." Leia immediately turned off her communicator and laid back on her wide chair, closing her eyes against the migraine that was starting at her temples.

A memory of a young Luke, back when they were helping to rebuild the empire after the rebels' victory in Endor, drifted back to her. Leia had sought his company after having another quarrel with Han, and she had asked him to use the Force to cure her headaches. "You only ever get these migraines when you're trying to control your temper," Luke had laughed. "Just go full Leia on him. You're pregnant, aren't you? He won't mind."

Han had came up behind them, intending to apologize to Leia, who had had no idea that she was with child. They both ganged up on Luke. "PREGNANT?" they burst out in unison.

Luke looked at both of them in alarm. To avoid responding, he looked past them, pretending to see a Force ghost, and shrilly called out, "Yes, Master Yoda? I need to go to Alderaan, you say? For a mission to save the galaxy? Right away, Master." Luke hurried out of the room, but Han and Leia would have none of it, and they noisily went after him.

Leia laughed at the memory, allowing herself to forget, just for a few minutes, the gnarly stress of the previous moments. She smiled at the remembrance of her brother's youthful beauty, his angelic face framed by a torrent of golden blond half ringlets; and her husband's roguish face, his dark brown hair soft and crunchy under her fingers whenever she pulled him down for a kiss, his features arranging into an infectious grin that never failed to make her heart skip a beat.

She heard the doors to the Command Center open, and swift, soft footsteps approaching her. Leia opened her eyes to Lt. Connix standing before her, gazing at her earnestly.

"The Fleet will be arriving in five minutes, General. Everything is ready." Kaydel smiled down at the General, and Leia gazed at her curiously. "Commanders Poe and Chewbacca have returned." She pulled out a thin, clear panel from her vest pocket, switched on the surrounding data analysis pods, and flicked her fingers on the panel to transfer its data to a hologram screen before Leia. "They have brought something that require your immediate consideration."

Leia quickly scanned the information and reconnaissance photographs running swiftly on the screen before them. The last pages made her jaw drop, and she looked up at Lt. Connix with wide eyes reflecting the other's surprise.

Before she could speak, a wide screen suddenly appeared before them as the Republic Navy fleet and the Resistance star fighters arrived on the location of the Knights of Ren's Star Dreadnought. Bacchus had provided them with codes and a powerful interspace server that allowed software hackers from the Resistance to access the Dreadnought's mainframe and take complete control of the massive flagship. As per schedule, the hackers were able to disable the ship, and in a matter of seconds, the Dreadnought's hangars opened up to the Republic's frigates carrying troops prepared to arrest the guests of the First Order's formal gathering.

Leia's communicator flickered on, and once again, Senator Warrick Holdo's hologram appeared uninvited. He happily congratulated Leia for overseeing a smooth, highly successful mission.

Leia closed her eyes for a brief second. _Oh Bacchus._ She remembered her son back in Chateau du Eclairage with the du Eclirage prince. Both boys were laughing, their cheeks reddened from an entire afternoon in the sun looking for black pearls with the mer-people from the Bay of Crystals.

"I'm afraid we were both wrong, Senator," Leia spoke. Warrick gawked at her, suddenly frightened. Her eyes slid back to the screen as the gigantic doors of the Dreadnought's bay hangars suddenly slid shut, trapping the Republic forces and Resistance rebels that had just landed inside. Lt. Connix's communicator erupted in a flood of frantic calls, and she and Leia spent the next few seconds listening to the Resistance controllers' messages that they had suddenly lost direct access to the Dreadnought's servers.

It took every ounce of strength she had to speak the truth to the Senator: "The entire mission was a trap."

"The Lady Himari told us to wait, Tom. She will never teach us again if we don't follow what she said."

Theo paused, his eyebrows raised almost to his hairline, at hearing Ygraine's voice through his children's bedroom door. He had been about to knock and come in to wish them goodnight. But now he stepped aside and leaned against the doorjamb, eager to hear more of his children's chatter.

"But I can do it, Yggy. I found Rey, didn't I?" Tom's earnest voice replied. "And we don't need a ship to go to them. I can tesser us both!"

"That's dangerous! I don't have that skill! If you make a mistake, we can't go back!"

Theo glanced upwards and closed his eyes for a second, a cherry-red rush of blood flooding his pale, cream cheeks. _What the hell_ , he thought. He turned to go back to Sigurn's chambers, when he felt an ice-cold wall of energy stop him in his tracks. Theo summoned the Force and raised his arm to release it from his palm, but bands of the same ice-cold energy wrapped around him, pushing his arms to his sides, welding his fingers shut. Theo saw with horror as a small, white hand rose out of the inky shadows before him, and with a wave, covered his mouth with what felt like a plaster of energy.

A very sheepish Ygraine then approached him, and hugged him in the torso. "I'm very sorry, Papa. But we knew you and Mama would never let go along with our plan"

"WHAT PLAN?" Theo shouted, his voice muffled through the mouth gag.

His children's bedroom door flew open, Ygraine went in and, using the Force, raised Theo a feet from the floor and effortlessly pulled him inside. Sigurn was beside the fireplace, looking very angry and shocked, and firmly restrained by a pale, determined-looking Tom using the same Force bindings that Ygraine used on Theo. Theo was moved beside Sigurn, and their two children then stood beside them, holding hands.

"We are very sorry about this, Mama, Papa," Tom said solemnly. "But let us explain first before we remove your gags."

This did not stop Sigurn from whipping a torrent of telepathic messages towards the twins, screaming that they stop their prank at once. Ygraine and Tom visibly flinched as they listened to their mother. Theo felt a sliver of pity for his children as Sigurn mercilessly described the slew of punishments that she planned for them.

Ygraine sighed, and scrunched her nose slightly. Theo felt a wobble of the Force, and Sigurn was startled to discover that she could no longer scold telepathically. She grimaced as if she wanted to scream and struggled against her bonds furiously.

Theo turned to his wife and mentally asked, "What kind of training did you give our kids?"

Sigurn shrugged her shoulders. Ygraine answered for her, "It wasn't Mama, Papa, though she helped a little. Lady Himari trained us. She's kind of—badass."

Theo closed his eyes briefly, recalling the years he shared with Sigurn before the twins came. "I know, my pup," he thought out in reply. Knowing the twins' powers, he carefully shielded his memories from Ygraine's mental probings.

The twins glanced at each other, and Theo felt a chill on his neck as he scried their unanimous thought, _We'll know, sooner or later._

 _When we're powerful enough._

Theo forced their attention back to the present moment. "Apprise us of your plan again, my loves," he thought out to them. Beside him, he could feel his wife's glare scouring his skin, but he kept his eyes steadily on his children.

Tom smiled purposefully at his father. He too avoided his mother's burning gaze. "We're going to rescue Rey, Papa. She needs our help."

Theo's eyes widened, and he looked at his wife at once. Ygraine's eyes bulged as she stared white-faced at her children.

"Mama, you know that's true," Ygraine explained calmly to Sigurn. "Lord Kylo is stronger than her. He will overpower her and take her away from us forever."

"We love her. She can stay with us, and we can heal her," Tom said. "We can make her forget about Kylo Ren. She'll be happy here."

"Besides," Ygraine chipped in. "I know she does not love him. She loves Commander Poe. I've seen it, Papa. And their baby Kai will come to us too when they get married."

Theo couldn't help himself as he replied to Ygraine: despite leading him back to his family, he still fiercely despised the rebel Poe Dameron, and couldn't understand the hold he had on his children's affections. "My darling, my mother and I have told you before," he mentally warned Ygraine, "As a clairvoyant you must not rely on your visions. You can only see time-paths. You cannot interfere with the Lady Rey's choices for her future."

"The Knights of Ren are evil, papa!"

"I'M a Knight of Ren!" Theo exclaimed. The twins blanched, and Ygraine glanced at her husband fearfully. It pained Theo to see the bleak helplessness in his children's eyes. Theo flexed his bicep muscles, but the Force-bindings remained intact, and he still could not get out of them despite his outburst.

"We didn't mean you of course, Papa," Ygraine replied timidly. "Only the others who obey Lord Kylo. You know, Papa, the Prince Bacchus, who shape-shifts and reads minds like me."

"The sisters: Vittoria and Rebecca Ren, who are master assassins and torturers," Tom continued. His thin frame shuddered slightly in fear.

"The twins: Leo and Marcus. Lord Kylo's personal bodyguards who are powerful with the Force."

"They will kill you on sight, my loves," Theo warned them. "They don't know who you are. They won't care. If you stand on their way, or on Lord Kylo's path, they will slaughter you."

Ygraine went still, and it looked to Theo that she had fainted away in her shock. Theo took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself, and chose his next words carefully.

"The Knights of Ren are powerful," Theo said to them telepathically. "Both of you cannot defeat them by yourselves." He sent out images of his years together with the Order: the Knights of Ren always attacked at the dead of night, at the middle of natural cataclysms that prevented whole villages and cities from organizing armies to defend themselves. Their red light sabers flashed in the dark, droplets of rain and snowflakes sizzling as they fell on their blades before the Knights started hewing and hacking living flesh. Flashes of lightning revealed their silhouettes to the townspeople as the masked and black-garbed Knights of Ren approached and struck down their walls using the Force. The warning bells always tolled too late; when Lord Kylo headed the sieges, they never rang at all.

Ygraine suddenly went green, but Tom's freckled, cream-cheeked face darkened. It seemed to Theo that his son's eyes became even greener, his red curls glistening and crackling gold sparks, as his resolve strengthened and, Theo sensed, his Force powers intensified.

He read his son's thoughts clearly, as if they were flashing right before them: _Kylo Ren will never have Rey_. Theo used a considerable amount of his strength to conceal from Ygraine the unavoidable truth that his kids were already too late.

"Then you know that we must save her, Father," Tom said aloud, his childish, slightly quavering voice echoing in their chamber. "Himari and the rebel commanders Poe and Uncle Chewie went after her. We must help them."

Theo felt a sudden drop in temperature, and immediately discerned why Ygraine had gone still. Only twice before had he seen Ygraine dip deep into herself to summon and command a core-draining, massive surge of the Force when she had to duel Luke Skywalker to advance to Jedi Master, and second on that fateful day when she had to evacuate the passengers from the transporter that had been about to crash. Her considerable Force Powers shielding everyone from impact before it exploded her eroded her Force Dome had saved every living thing on that vessel.

Theo braced himself.

A blistering-hot arc of the Force shot out of Ygraine and disintegrated the Force bindings wrapping her and Theo. Theo swiped away the Force gags on their mouths and faced the twins simultaneously with Sigurn. They raised their arms to bind their children.

Except that their Force attacks did not work at all. Ygraine grinned sheepishly as Tom bit his smile and eyed his mother nervously. Sigurn ran forward and waved a hand through their 3D Force projections.

"Your ship is still in the bottom of the ocean, Papa. When Rey comes back with us, she can fix it in no time, so we used Mama's supply transporter," Ygraine explained. Sigurn screamed in frustration, and Theo wrapped his arm around her shoulders in half-sympathy for his wife, and in quiet awe for the abilities of his children.

Theo smiled at his son, and asked, "I thought you were powerful enough to tesser you and your sister."

"But I can't tesser us and Rey back, Papa," Theo answered, slightly annoyed at the limitation of his powers. "I can only do it once."

Theo pursed his lips. Sigurn had already slipped away from his embrace and storming off to find a ship to transport them out of the planet. But his gut instincts never failed him before, and they blared and clanged at him that his children's powers were limitless, and maybe, just maybe, would be more than a match for the Knights of Ren. _Bacchus always recognized and respected powerful Force-sensitive children. Maybe he will be moved to pity_ , he thought. "My mother and I will wait for you." Sigurn stopped and turned to him. Theo immediately regretted his words. She clenched her fingers and Theo felt his larynx being constricted as she pulled his body half a feet from the ground using the Force.

"Just…come….baa-aaa-ackkk…alive!" Theo gasped.

Tom and Ygraine pleaded with their mom to stop torturing their father. Sigurn growled at them to come home as she crashed Theo's trashing body to the nearest cabinet and lunged at him. To her surprise, Theo raised his arm, and Sigurn was slammed breathlessly against the wall.

"Not to worry, my ducks," Theo called out to his children as he put up a shield wall against his wife's relentless attacks. "Your mother and I will still be here when you get back—"

"You two are not going anywhere!" Sigurn roared as she swept her hand against her children's Force projections and disintegrated them in her fist. She flattened Theo against the wall, and bared her teeth at him. "You dare!" she hissed. "Your own children against those monsters!"

"You and Himari destroyed my ship. We have no communicators and ships to take us to them!" Theo called out, gazing at Sigurn helplessly. Sigurn broke down in sobs, and weakened her grip on Theo. As soon as his feet touched the floor, he rushed to his wife and wrapped her in his arms.

"They are stronger than the two of us," Theo said to her. He caressed strands of her hair from her tear-dampened cheek, and kissed the honeysuckle-perfumed hollow of her ear. "You and Himari made sure of that."

"You have always spoiled those kids," Sigurn whispered furiously, and Theo knew that she was not referring to their children. "If they touch one hair, one freckle—"

"I can barely look at Ygraine without flinching at how powerful she is," Theo assured her. "And Tom…is more than a match for Bacchus. Himari will hold her brothers in line."

"But that Solo boy…" Theo indulged in a little smile as Sigurn struggled to deny her memories of teaching Ben Solo the ways of the Jedi when she was young. "Ben… Kylo Ren."

"He and Rey are evenly matched. The Lady Rey barely had any training." Sigurn raised an eyebrow at him haughtily, unaware that her nostrils flared slightly in derision. Theo hid a smile and carefully shielded his thoughts. _She may hate what her favorite student had become,_ he thought with amusement, _but she cannot bear the thought of anyone being better than Ben._

"She is in bed with him." Sigurn snuffed in disgust. "The both of them joined together like the ends of a Gordian knot."

"Hardly of her own free will. Bacchus abducted her from the safety of her friends." Theo remembered the naked need in Kylo Ren's gaze whenever he looked at Rey. The air whenever they shared one of those deep penetrating gazes always cackled with electricity. Their intensity drove the others away. It always made Vittoria mad with jealousy, but delighted the rest of the Knights, including Theo, to no end. "And it's not the first time a Jedi and a disciple from the Dark Side of the Force came together." Theo reminded her. Sigurn tightened her grip on her husband's neck and pulled him down. Her blue eyes blazed as she glowered up at him, and her upper lip curled angrily. Then she pushed him away roughly and stormed out of the room.

Beside him, his children's Force projections flickered into view. Their eyes were wide as saucers, and they smiled at him guiltily as Theo glanced down at them with a visible, seething impatience.

"Tell me where you are, NOW," he demanded from them. "And spare no details."

Minutes later, Theo found Sigurn outside the castle, staring at the evening vista of white twinkling stars and heavy masses of storm clouds approaching from the sea and covering the opal orb of a full moon. Her long white fingers tightly gripped her forearms as she shivered from the freezing evening air. When Theo reached her, her face was deathly pale, her lips tightening as her anxious eyes scanned the horizon for a sign of their children's ship.

"They are in hyperspace," Theo spoke. "Riding on the tail of a fleet of New Republican frigates approaching the Order's Dreadnought."

The rocks within a two feet circumference rose ominously as Sigurn turned to stare at her husband. Her eyes searched Theo's face, and she scowled in anger. "And yet you think we should still stay. Do NOTHING?"

"We are stuck here, my love. We just have to trust them to protect themselves and come back with Rey and Himari."

"You don't know those kids! You've never been around to raise them!"

"Stop this, please, my love," Theo pleaded. He moved to take her in his arms, but his hands touched empty air, as Sigurn's Force projection fell apart and disappeared. Fierce gales of wind then blew from the ocean and Theo stared, flabbergasted, at his slightly dilapidated TIE fighter jet rose from the waves, froth of sea water swirling and falling from its surface as it ascended and hovered awkwardly above him. He could see, in his mind's eye, Sigurn in the pilot's chair, trying not to look overwhelmed by the overload of controls for the ship.

"Get in, Parent of the Year!" Sigurn's voice echoed impatiently from the outer speakers. "Help me fly this over-designed piece of junk!"

Tears streaked down Rey's cheeks as Poe left her, his face disappearing in the fading whirl of Himari's tesseract. She let out a short sob as she lingered at her last sensation of his warm, breathing presence: his deep, serious voice calling out her name, his arms wrapped around her, and his lips, desperate and yet gently taking hers in a deep, mind-blowing kiss that took her breath away. Her skin still tingled from his touch and his clean, all-too familiar manly scent that hinted of pepper and melon.

A small, warm hand on her wrist pulled Rey from her thoughts, and she gazed down into a little girl's shadowed, eye-less sockets. A gentle, familiar voice in her mind spoke, and Rey now knew that it belonged to the child who now introduced herself as Himari: the blind Jedi Master whom she had found long ago when she had searched the Force for a teacher after Luke Skywalker's passing. The voice had also spoken to her during her first duel with Alice Ren, warning her that killing the Knight would open her up to the Dark Side and put her on that nefarious path from which there was no turning back.

Rey noticed webs of violet-black veins spreading from the insides of Himari's wrists to her fingers. Himari looked to Rey that she was becoming even younger: her thin, child's body becoming even smaller and more delicate. Rey could sense Himari's Force powers diminishing with each breath that she took. She was in no shape to face the Knights of Ren, and Rey did not understand the naked fear in Rebecca's face or Bacchus' tense, defensive stance as they stood before her.

Himari seemed to read her thoughts, and she mustered a slight smile at Rey through her shallow breathing. "It is a long tale for another day, my dear. Though I don't think I will live to tell it."

"These people are my friends. They can heal you." Rey took Himari's hands in her own. "If they won't, Kylo Ren—"

"I apologize for interrupting you, my dear," Himari cut in. "But Kylo Ren and his Knights will not help either of us while we are together. It is time for you to pick a side."

"I thought I did. But I've spent time with them, and—" Rey couldn't bear herself to finish her sentence. _I've fallen in love with him._ "They're now my friends. I can't pick a side…it's not that simple anymore."

"Then why are you trying to escape and go back to the Resistance?" Himari asked. Rey stared at Bacchus, who helped Rebecca stand up and checked her for injuries. They both looked at her, silent and still wary of Himari, and Rey detected from them a strong feeling of panic and worry for her safety, as if she would be hurt and endangered at any moment.

"My Lady," Rebecca addressed Rey, not trusting herself to tear her eyes away from Rey's companion. "Please. Get away from her."

"She's just a child," Rey answered. Rebecca and Bacchus stared at her in utter dread. Rey felt utterly confused.

She turned back to Himari, whose face remained impassive, unreadable. _You are in no shape to fight them_ , Rey spoke telepathically to her. _We can go inside that ship in the hangar where we left Leo. It is primed to depart, and we can outrun the First Order ships when they come for us._

"No, Rey," Himari answered wearily. "Everything led to this moment. You shouldn't ignore their pleas for your safety now that you are with me."

As if she had discerned Rey's unspoken words, Rebecca suddenly teleported away from Bacchus' side and came up behind them. Her exquisitely manicured fingers gripped Rey's arm as she tried to take her away from Himari.

Himari slightly turned her head towards Rebecca and, almost instantly, Rebecca's hand and arm contracted inwards and was whipped brutally behind her back. The Knight let out a guttural scream of pain as Rey heard simultaneous, crunching sounds from inside Rebecca's arm: Himari had shattered fragmented the bones beneath the flesh with barely a look. Bacchus rushed to Rebecca's side and shoved her away to safety. He raised a lightsaber dagger to plunge into Himari's neck. Himari bared her teeth at him, and splayed her fingers right in front of Bacchus's face. He was dragged hundreds of feet into the air by his face. Himari threw a slew of foot-long Force bands at him: they slashed cleanly through the skin and muscles at Bacchus' knees and elbows, slightly exposing the whites of his bones in view. Bacchus howled in pain, but Himari refused to release him and left him dangling in the air.

Fear and self-repulsion slithered up Rey's spine at the realization that she had acted condescendingly to a Force user whose power was mightier and more boundless than her own. "Who are you?" Rey asked Himari.

"You need not fear me," Himari answered quietly. "I came because you and your friends needed my help."

"I was never in any danger!" Rey answered. "These people are my friends, and I can't forgive you for hurting them!"

Luke's lightsaber flew into her hand. Its light blue blade beamed into life as Rey took a step back and she raised it in a defensive stance, readying herself for Himari's attack. Himari's forehead crinkled slightly, and her head dipped a little, as if she was briefly confused and was gathering her thoughts for what she would do next.

Rey swung to attack Himari, and Rebecca and Bacchus screamed in unison, "NO!" Rebecca used the last of her strength to teleport herself in front of Rey and shove her backwards. She turned to face Himari and received the latter's open-palm Force attack full on her chest. She coughed blood and fell to her knees, but Himari moved forward and lightly waved her hand, using the Force to gently push the weakened, grievously-hurt Knight aside. She looked up at Rey, who was dumbfounded at the speed and tenacity of Rebecca's defense against Himari's assault. She just realized that the open-palm attack had been meant for her, and she was still unskilled and unmatched to parry or reciprocate any of such attacks.

"That never stopped you from facing Lord Snoke and attempting to kill him to save Lord Kylo," Rebecca said to her in a low voice. She had read Rey's thoughts again, and she glanced back at her to give her a reassuring smile. "You did not hesitate when you killed the Praetorians. Do not doubt yourself now."

"There's no need to patronize her, Your Highness," Himari grimly told Rebecca. "She can learn in the same way that you and the rest of the Knights did."

"Lord Kylo will kill you if you harm her!" Rebecca viciously replied. "She is under our protection!"

"And I have defeated you. I will give her the choice that you and your Master never gave her."

They glanced up as a group of storm-troopers arrived and parted in two columns, making way for Marcus, his eyes wild and searching for his sister. He stopped and almost fell to his knees in relief when he saw her at Rey's side. He gaped at Marcus's limp, barely conscious body dangling above them, and at Rebecca, heaving raggedly for breath and clamping the open wound on her chest with a limp hand. He threw an arcing lance of Force energy to sever Himari's grip on Marcus' body, and caught the weakened Spymaster in his arms. He was stunned in shock at the damage that Himari had already done to them.

" _Igeos-eun pil-yohaji anh-assda (1)_ ," Marcus addressed Himari. " _Yeodongsaeng (2)_."

Himari's face did not betray any reaction, but Rey saw her clench her small, child's fists.

He stopped at the edge of Rey's Force bubble shield, facing Himari, who eventually bowed her head, her surface thoughts troubled and roiling with pain and relief at seeing her brother.

" _Neo nunaga doel su (3)_ ," Marcus' eyes were filled with tears as he continued speaking to his sister, who turned away and hid her face from them. " _I sewol-i jinan hue! (4)_ "

"She died." Himari's voice was soft and cracked with grief. She refused to answer her brother in the language of their childhood. "Along with mother and father who were slain at the hands of your Master." The extreme youthfulness of his sister's voice struck Marcus and he recoiled in horror as he realized what was happening to her. He glared at Rey in rage.

"What did you do to her!" Marcus charged to attack Rey, his arm extended to catch his lightsaber as it flew to his hand and activated its blade, its solid, blood-red blade glowing and crackling between him and Rey's shield. Rebecca, staggering to her feet, immediately held him back by his elbows and Bacchus winced and pulled himself up to weakly extend his hand and used the Force to disarm Marcus of his weapon.

"Rey doesn't know, Marcus!" Bacchus said with a sigh. "She came with the rebel pilot Poe to rescue Rey. He was sent back through Himari's tesseract." His aquamarine eyes locked with Rey's with caution. "And now she intends to fight us to bring her back to the Resistance."

"Over my dead body!" Marcus replied savagely. "Leo is in intensive care because of her attacks. From our own sister!"

There was a moment of utter stillness that pervaded for half a second, but to Rey it seemed like an eternity. Her senses suddenly came alive and braced themselves for a sudden attack. She only saw Himari's tiny fingers flutter delicately before her, as if she was waving away a fluff of dust. Instantly, Rey's Force shield shattered into infinitesimal pieces, and Bacchus, Rebecca and Marcus screamed in pain as they were thrown back several feet away from them. The stormtroopers accompanying them realized too late what had happened. Himari flicked her fingers again, and a swathe of solid Force energy drove through them. Rey heard the sickening sounds of their brains exploding inside their helmets, and one by one, each soldier fell, their corpses falling to the floor in orderly rows like dominoes.

Himari now straightened up her child's frame beside Rey, who glanced down at her in shock. A large eye opened up sleepily in the middle of Himari's forehead. A thin trickle of black blood flowed from its corner into Himari's empty left eye socket. Himari's cheek quivered, and Rey realized that the childlike force user was in pain. She winced slightly.

"I can never compare my own experience with yours, Rey," Himari whispered again with her unnerving child's voice. "The choice is yours to make."

Himari tsk-tsked as she read such surface thought from Rey's mind, and she reached out and gripped Rey's hand trustingly.

"Banish such thoughts from your mind. There is no greater or lesser among Force users. Only unrealized potential. But if you cannot a pick a side, then the only way is to seek and master the way of balancing the Force. Not Light nor Dark."

"Even if it means killing?" Rey answered her, her voice quivering with outrage, refusing to let her get away with causing the deaths of the soldiers before them who never saw what was coming.

"Yes." Himari cocked her head to her side. "Luke said the same words, didn't he? To become a Jedi, there must always be a balance of the Force. But the Jedi have always chosen the Light, defending it by destroying the Sith. Vanquishing life. Killing, always killing, through wars and conquests, throughout the millennia."

Rey shook her head, more confused than she was minutes before. "He meant to let life take its natural course. And not let our emotions take us away from what is right and just."

"Noble words. Noble teachings," Himari affirmed, though her voice was slightly bitter and full of scorn. "But their actions tell a different side of the truth. It is always worth upholding such ideals to maintain order. But for creatures of emotion and reason, life is complex. We are always on the edge of chaos. As you say, it is never so simple, so direct. One just can't choose one side from another."

Rey exhaled in disbelief. "But NOW you are asking me to pick such a side! To ignore these complications! I love them!" She indicated to Bacchus, Rebecca and Marcus who still lay unconscious at the other side of the room. "And I love him." Her memories of Kylo Ren flashed in her mind, and Rey clenched her fists, trying to fight against the swell of desire and love that threatened to overwhelm her. "But I cannot abandon Poe. Finn, Rose, the General. My friends in the Resistance who laid their lives for what was right."

"I am neither with any of them. I came because you needed me. You called out to me in the Force. You wanted to destroy the Force Bond you had with Kylo Ren, General Leia's son, in order to better protect her and your friends in the Resistance. Remember?" Himari angled her small head, as if she meant to peer even closer to Rey's soul. "Is it still your desire to master the Force this way?"

Rey didn't answer her, as she remembered her life before she met Finn: the bleakness and despair of waiting for a family who never came, and now, caught in a war that now forces her to choose between people that she had come to love and sought to protect.

She remembered Tom and Ygraine: the Force sensitive children living in another galaxy with their mother who had taken them far away from the wars between the First Order and the Resistance. She imagined living with them in a world where her worth was not determined by how powerful she could be with the Force.

"There is another way?" Rey asked. Himari nodded.

Rey gazed back at the Knights of Ren. She closed her eyes and opened her mind's eye to see Kylo Ren's location in the massive vastness of the Dreadnought: he was running towards them, a quarter of mile away. When she became aware of him, he stopped, and turned his head directly to see her staring at him. Her lips quivered when he smiled and tried to reach for her, but she stepped away, shaking her head. She put out her hand to stop him from getting near her.

"Ben," she spoke. It was the only name that came to Rey as memories of him rushed inside her head, threatening to push her to the brink of tears. Kylo ran towards her and pulled her into his arms. Rey gasped as his body melded into hers in their embrace, and she buried her face into the crook of his neck, inhaling his scent. Kylo cradled her nape in his hand and bent down as he took her lips in a hard, urgent kiss. Rey felt a silky, slippery wetness rushing out of her, its feminine scent raw and unmistakable as it flooded through her undergarments. A guttural moan escaped Rey's throat as Kylo leaned his hips towards hers, and she parted her thighs to welcome the scorching throb of his erection through layers of their clothes. Their lips still locked together feverishly, Kylo reached down and hooked Rey's parted legs around his hips. He pulled away from their kiss, his eyes darkening from chocolate brown to pure black as he pushed Rey back against the nearest wall and watched as she bit her lip to stop herself from moaning out loud. The sharp, swelling pain kept her from losing the last fragments of self-control which were slipping away in a red, lust-driven haze through which she could only see and feel Kylo Ren. Their minds melded together through the Force, and she could sense that his full concentration was on her and only her. He had become half-mad from her presence, from her complete surrender to his urgent, insistent need. He was as much her slave as she was his. Kylo's hands burrowed under the hem of her dress to gently, fervently caress her breasts, before he pushed her upwards and levelled her pink-tipped mounds to his hungry, waiting mouth. _No_ , Rey finally called out clearly and loudly with her mind. She clutched at his thick, wavy hair to steady herself and hack a lucid path through the tangle of raw sensations and urgent impulses that tingled under her skin and left her limp and vulnerable under his touch.

 _But not so powerless. Show him._ Himari's voice spoke in her mind. Rey forced herself to concentrate, and summoned the Force to push them apart. The impact threw Kylo against the opposite wall. He tried to shove himself forward, but Rey increased her Force wave, pooling her full power into restraining him, forcing him to listen. She came nearer and stopped a foot away from his immobilized body. She looked up to him and gazed into his eyes as their color reverted back to the dark chocolate brown shade that she loved so much.

"Goodbye," she said. She stood on her tiptoes to press a gentle kiss on his lips. Before he could say another word, she stepped back, and Rey found herself again in the same hall with Himari and the unconscious Knights of Ren. Himari was several feet away, and a blue orb of light illuminated from her palms as she healed Rebecca and Bacchus' fractures. Rey walked towards her and saw Marcus' unconscious, sleeping form beside them. He was already fully healed, and there was no trace of the Force blades that his own sister had used against him in their duel.

Himari finished treating Bacchus and gently folded his arm on his chest. She paused, but then reached out and cupped the straight line of his jaw with her small hand. Rey was mesmerized by this display of affection, considering that only moments ago, she had brutally and unflinchingly shattered all the bones in his entire arm.

"You know them," Rey said when she joined Himari. "You still care for them."

Himari sighed. "Along with my brothers and your Force-Mate, they were my first students. I imagine sometimes that I was like a mother to them, but of course they hated me too much."

Rey glared at her in disbelief. The rest of what Himari said was lost to Rey after the Force Master told her of the nature of her relationship with Kylo Ren.

"Force…Mate?" she repeated. Luke had never told her anything about such nonsense.

Himari's third eye widened and stared at her unblinkingly. "You and the Solo boy." Himari hid a sly smile with her hand. As she spoke, she propped her forefinger on her chin as if she was thinking out loud. "Forcemates are what you two would be normally called when you have a Force connection that bent and curved space and time. The attraction between you two deepens it, after each and every time you physically mate. In the olden days, you would be considered married. But kids are just so sexually liberated these days."

"HE IS NOT MY FORCE MATE," Rey burst out, blood rushing to her cheeks. "HE IS NOT MY ANYTHING. You said that I can get rid of it, this connection. If you were the Knights' teacher, how come Kylo never learned to manipulate it? What if you have nothing to teach me, but only riddles and failure, like Master Skywalker?"

"I too had a bond like yours, a long time ago, with a man that I had sworn to kill. But we were destined to be Force Mates. I could not escape him, as much as I could not escape the Force that lived in every particle of me. But I became strong enough to repel its power. I was able to sever my connection, and you can too, if that is the path that you wish to take."

Himari's third eye closed, and Himari turned her face upwards at Rey, and smiled. She held out her hand to the Jedi warrior.

Rey looked at Rebecca, Bacchus and Marcus one last time as she took Himari's hand. The world blurred and faded into view just as she saw Kylo Ren enter the hall and started running towards her, calling her name.

"Something's not right," Rose muttered to Finn. They both stood in the Command Center of a Mon Calamari Star Cruiser, and they watched as the gigantic doors of the First Order's Dreadnought opened to let in their ship and the other vessels of the New Republic fleet that had arrived to arrest the First Order and its allies. "We should pull back and enter last."

It had been too good to be true when Lieutenant Connix explained to them that General Leia had finally been able to secure the support of what remained of the New Republic in their fight against the First Order. The Resistance now led a fleet composed of hundreds of New Republic cruisers and gunners, filled with troops primed to arrest the First Order's storm troopers, the Knights of Ren, and the multitudes of the Order's allies who had gathered in one place to celebrate the Knights of Ren's ascent to power following the death of Snoke. After the arrests, they were to commandeer the vast Dreadnought and escort the bands of traitors for incarceration in the old Capital, Nakadia. What convinced everyone to go along with General Leia's plan had been the surrender of intelligence from the First Order's Spymaster himself, who only asked for the return of the sovereignty over his home planet as reward.

It seemed simple enough, which only made Rose more suspicious.

"We have to look for Rey," Finn said, his voice tight with worry. "We have to be there first in case those Republic soldiers mistake her for one of those Knights of Ren."

"But this seems too easy. It's just like our mission in Canto Bight. I can't help thinking we're falling into another trap."

The tendrils at the side of the face of Commander Hokz, the ship's Mon Calamari highest-ranking officer, shook in alarm. His sharp ears could hear everything, and he turned his full attention to the couple, who were the only humans to come aboard his ship as they had gotten used to the smell of the Mon Calamari from their days in Resistance ships. Commander Hokz's voice reverberated as he addressed his staff: "Engineer Tico is right. Tell the other ships to be in full alert and to ready their guns in case the First Order attempts something."

"We're not going in?" Finn asked.

"Our mission is to go inside and arrest the people in the Banquet Wing, the soldiers and the Knights. It is a titan of a vessel, and our officers will need all the help we can give them."

"We can always stay outside, Commander. To intercept escape pods and any cruiser that might clear off before we could get to them."

"General Leia's ship will take care of that. We have our orders."

Commander Hokz briefly placed a hand on Finn and Rose's shoulders, and exited the room with the rest of his staff. The ship was now in autopilot as it entered the vast, cavernous receiving dock of the First Order's Dreadnought where many of the New Republic's ships had already landed. Resistance rebels and Republic soldiers streamed out of the vessels and were already arresting the white-armored stormtroopers that had gathered nearby.

The stormtroopers' armor gave Rose an idea. She turned to Finn with a knowing smile. Finn looked at her, perplexed, until it dawned on him what Rose planned to do, and he gaped at her in horror.

"Are you insane?" Finn gasped. He lowered his voice when a Mon Calamari guard several feet away glanced at them curiously. They both gave the soldier a dazzling, toothy smile until he awkwardly turned away. "That will never work!" Finn continued. "We'll be arrested before we even get to the First Order's sanctums!"

Rose eyed Finn exasperatedly. "Do you want to find Rey or not?"

There was a flurry of thick fur and the scent of freshly-bathed dog hair that invaded Poe's nostrils as Chewbacca gave out a cry of relief and joy and smothered him in a warm, enveloping hug. Poe was about to black out from lack of air when he heard General Leia's voice ordering the Wookie to let him go. Poe gasped for air as the General scolded Chewbacca for nearly killing him; Chewbacca only shrugged his ears and replied that humans were so annoyingly fragile.

"You try going through that blasted tesseract twice, you hairbag!" Poe complained. He calmed himself down as he faced the General, who assessed him in a quick head to toe look and was satisfied that her best pilot was in good health.

"Well?" she asked.

Poe glanced to his side, avoiding eye contact with Leia as he answered: "We found Rey. She chose to move on."

The General nodded, her beautiful dark eyes saddened at seeing Poe trying to hide his pain. She was heartbroken that Rey had gone on without saying goodbye. In the brief time that they had known each other, Leia had come to love Rey as a daughter and admired her greatly as the most talented human mechanic the Rebellion had ever seen. Even the Mon Calamari, who were unmatched in their brilliance towards space transport technology, frequently asked for Rey's advice in repairing and converting vessels for the Resistance. She was resilient, over-protective, generous and full of love and courage for her friends. Losing her will sap the rebels' morale; it had already made its mark on Poe, and to the General, it seemed that the pilot Commander had lost a huge chunk of his reckless, dauntless bravado. Leia couldn't decide yet if that was a bad thing, or if it will spur Poe even more to fight for their cause.

 _It was best, then,_ Leia decided, _that he didn't know everything._

"Yes, with the Lord of Wrath. Or rather…the Lady of Wrath," the General spoke. "The legends from both the Sith and the Jedi always misidentified her as a he, because they couldn't fathom that a creature of such immense, dark power could be a woman."

"She's not even that," Poe said. "She's a child. But she summoned those tesseracts, shields and other magics using the Force as if the laws of astrophysics don't apply to her and her kind." Poe glanced at the General curiously. Leia's chocolate brown eyes darkened to near-black; to him, this was always the giveaway that she was hiding something, as she had long mastered the art of expressing absolutely nothing from her facial expressions, or even flat-out lying when she needed to while still looking endearingly sincere. "And you don't seem surprised, General," he observed.

"I knew her when she was still one of Luke Skywalker's Knights."

Poe crinkled his brows in suspicion. The General was about to say more, when they were interrupted by a pale-faced, tight-lipped Lieutenant Connix, who rushed in with a blaring data pad on her hand. All three of them watched as Commander Hokz frantically informed them through a video message recorded through a wrist communicator that the Resistance rebels and the New Republic's troops had been arrested and shepherded into an empty hall by First Order storm-troopers. All their ships had been disabled, and they could not escape.

The lights suddenly went off behind Commander Hokz, Leia, Connix and Poe then saw rings of lights above the enclosure where the rebels and New Republic soldiers were held.

"What do you see?" Leia asked.

"I see Senators Ilerya, Ullman. Trade Federation members…Mustafar sheikhs. Hundreds of other First Order allies. They all have blasters pointed at us." Hokzs closed his eyes, and bowed sadly. "Goodbye, General Leia. It has been an honor being under your command."

Leia closed her eyes as a cascade of blaster fire descended on the rebels and soldiers. Connix screamed and buried her face into Poe's chest, and he wrapped his arms around her, his eyes wide and ringed with tears as he watched the rebels hug each other, intending to spend their last moments together in the arms of friends; many were defiant still, their heads held high, peering into the eyes of the First Order allies who considered it amusing entertainment to assassinate them.

But no cries of pain came, no sounds of blaster shots hitting flesh. Leia heard Poe gasp and laugh in delight. Leia opened her eyes to see the millions of blaster fire suspended and blinking above the rebels' heads like neon fireflies. A blond-haired girl, barely bigger than a toddler, had both her arms raised, and Leia discerned that it was she who had stopped the assassination fire using the Force. Before Leia could figure out who she was, the screen was invaded by a pair of big forest-green eyes belonging to the thin, delicately-boned face of a boy. He looked slightly familiar to Leia.

"Princess? General Solo?" he spoke with a loud, wet whisper into the communicator. Connix, Poe and Chewbacca glanced at Leia, who shrugged at them in absolute bewilderment. "Please, Your Grace." His lips quivered as if he was going to cry. "We're looking for Rey."

************************ _ **End of Chapter Seven****************_

 _Notes: I'm sorry it took so long to post this. Thanks for reading!_

(1) "This was unnecessary."

(2) "Sister."

(3) "It can't be you."

(4) "After all these years!"


End file.
